i,. 3

I

Westminster Comsientaries
Edited by Walter Lock D.D.

IRELAND PROFESSOR OF THE EXEGESIS
OF HOLY SCRIPTURE

THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET

JEREMIAH

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THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET

JEREMIAH

WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

BY

L. ELLIOTT BINNS, MA.

LATE SCHOLAR OF EMMANUEL COLLEGE ;

AND SOMETIME CHAPLAIN AND LECTURER IN OLD TESTAMENT HI3T0RY,

RIDLEY HALL, CAMBRIDGE

l'**

9

METHUEN & CO. LTD.

36 ESSEX STREET W.C.

LONDON

First Published in jgig

PREFATORY NOTE BY THE GENERAL EDITOR

rriHE primary object of these Commentaries is to be exe-
-*- getical, to interpret the meaning of each book of .the
Bible in the light of modern knowledge to English readers.
The Editors will not deal, except subordinately, with questions
of textual criticism or philology ; but taking the English text
in the Revised Version as their basis, they will aim at com-
bining a hearty acceptance of critical principles with loyalty to
the Catholic Faith.

The series will be less elementary than the Cambridge Bible
for Schools, less critical than the International Critical Com-
mentary, less didactic than the Expositor's Bible ; and it is
hoped that it may be of use both to theological students and to
the clergy, as well as to the growing number of educated laymen
and laywomen who wish to read the Bible intelligently and
reverently.

Each commentary will therefore have
(i) An Introduction stating the bearing of modern criticism
and research upon the historical character of the book, and
drawing out the contribution which the book, as a whole, makes
to the body of religious truth.

(ii) A careful paraphrase of the text with notes on the
more difficult passages and, if need be, excursuses on any points
of special importance either for doctrine, or ecclesiastical or-
ganization, or spiritual life.

But the books of the Bible are so varied in character that

vi NOTE

considerable latitude is needed, as to the proportion which the
various parts should hold to each other. The General Editor
will therefore only endeavour to secure a general uniformity in
scope and character : but the exact method adopted in each
case and the final responsibility for the statements made will
rest with the individual contributors.

By permission of the Delegates of the Oxford University
Press and of the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press
the Text used in this Series of Commentaries is the Revised
Version of the Holy Scriptures.

WALTER LOCK

PREFACE

DURING the past few years the importance of Jeremiah
amongst the prophets of the Old Testament has been in-
creasingly recognised; no longer is he overshadowed by the
massive figure of Isaiah, but rather have the two prophets come
to be regarded as twin peaks standing side by side and pointing
the soul to the things of God. If, however, the number of books
written upon the earlier prophet be compared with those written
upon the later, it will be found that there is a very great dis-
proportion between them. It would seem therefore that room
is left for another Commentary on the Book of the prophet
Jeremiah.

Much that is valuable has been written on the book, but not
much that is recent, at any rate in Great Britain. Exceptions
to the last statement are to be found in Dr Peake's two volumes
in the Century Bible (1910 and 1911), and in the last edition of
Dr Streane's volume in the Cambridge Bible (1913), the revision
of which he completed only a short time before his lamented
death. In writing my own Commentary, however, I have not
made any very great use of these two works, valuable though
they be, having preferred to go behind them to the great work
of Cornill {Das Buck Jeremia, 1905), a work which must form
the basis of every modern Commentary on the prophet.

In his translation and arrangement of Jeremiah (1906) the
late Dr Driver, writing of the Commentaries of Keil (1872) and
Duhm (1901), said that 'the principal task of the future Com-
mentator on Jeremiah will be to discover the right mean between
them.' In a humble way I have tried to follow out his advice.
Other Commentators whom I have found useful are Graf (1862)
and Giesebrecht (1894 and 1907). To Cheyne's Jeremiah: His
Life and Times in the ' Men of the Bible ' series I owe many

viii PREFACE

fi'uitful ideas, as I do also to Dr Moses Buttenwieser's FropheU
of Israel (Part I, 1914). My debt to the writers named above
is very large as will be seen by the constant references to them
contained in the following Commentary, references which by no
means disclose the fulness of my obligation to them.

The scope of the series in which this Commentary appears
does not permit of any large dealing with the Hebrew text of
Jeremiah; hence many points of interest to Hebrew scholars
have had to be passed by almost unnoticed. For a similar reason
the question of Jeremiah's use of metre, a highly controversial
and technical subject, has received but slight treatment. In the
present volume no general review of the origin and development
of Hebrew prophecy has been attempted, the subject having
already received admirable treatment in the series, and the
reader who desires more detailed information on the subject
cannot do better than consult Dr Wade's note Hebrew Propliecy
and its Credentials in his Commentary on Isaiah, pp. viii — xvii.

In conclusion I wish to express my deep gratitude to the
General Editor, Dr Lock. Dr Lock has been most patient and
kind in reading through both the MS and proofs of the Com-
mentary, and to his wise advice and varied learning I have
frequently been indebted. Canon R. H. Kennett, the Regius
Professor of Hebrew in Cambridge University, very kindly read
through the MS of the Introduction and made valuable sugges-
tions in regard to it for which I am very grateful, as I am for
the care and affection which he lavished upon me — as upon his
other pupils — during the years that I studied under his guidance.

L. E. B.

Plymouth,
Lent, 1919,

CONTENTS

PAGE

Peincipal Abbreviations employed xi

Introduction xiii

1. The Importance of Jeremiah xiii

2. The Times of Jeremiah xvii

3. The Life of Jeremiah xxviii

4. The Character of Jeremiah xxxvi

5. The Teaching of Jeremiali xliv

6. The Book of Jeremiah . . . . . . . . Ixxii

7. The Style of Jeremiah Ixxviii

8. The Influence of Jeremiah , . . Ixxxiii

Chronological Table • . . . Ixxxix

Text and Commentary i

Additional Notes

Jeremiah and Nature 10

The Ark of the Covenant 34

The Destruction of Shiloh 69

Sacrifice in the Wilderness 75

The ' Intercession of Saints ' in Jewish Literature . . . 129

The False Prophets 182

The Condition of the Exiles 222

The Authorship of xxxi. 31-34 . 241

Jewish Colonies in Egypt 315

The Fate of Babylon 373

Index 383

LIST OF PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS

AJTh. American Journal of Theology.

Aq. The Version of Aquila.

AV. The Authorised Version.

BDB. A Hebrew and English Lexicoyi of the Old Testament &c. By Francis

Brown, D.D., S. R. Driver, D.D., and C. A. Briggs, D.D.
Buhl Pal. F. Buhl, Geographie des alten Paldstina.
GB. Cambridge Bible.
cf. Compare.

CIS. Corpus Inscriptionum, Semiticarum (Paris).
COT. Eb. Schrader, The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the O.T. (English

Translation.) See also KA T.

D. The Deuteronomic Document of the Pentateuch.
DB. W. Smith, A Dictionary of the Bible.

E. The Elohistic Document of the Pentateuch.

Enc. Bib. Encyclopaedia Biblica, edited by the Rev. T. K. Cheyne, D.D.,

and J. Sutherland Black, LL.D.
Enc. Brit. Encyclopaedia Britannica.
ET. English Translation.
EVV. English Versions of the Bible,
fr. Fragment.
Ges.-K. Geseniu^ Hebrew Grammar, as edited and enlarged by E. KaiUzsch.

Translated from the 28th German edition by A. E. Cowley, D.D.
H. The Holiness Document of the Pentateuch.
HDB. A Dictionary of the Bible, edited by J. Hastings, D.D.
HDRE or HD Rel. & E. A Dictioyiary of Religion and Ethics, edited by

J. Hastings, D.D.
ICC. The International Critical Commentary, edited by S. R. Driver, D.D.,

A. Plummer, D.D., and C. A. Briggs, D.D.
J. The Jehovistic Document of the Pentateuch.
JBL. The Journal of Biblical Literature.
Jew. Enc. The Jewish Encyclopaedia.
JQR. Jewish Quarterly Review, edited by I, Abi'ahams, M.A., and C. G.

Montefiore, M.A.
J. Th. S. Journal of Theological Studies, edited by J. F. Bethune-Baker, D.D.,

and F. E. Brightman, M.A.
KA T. Eb. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament.
KB. Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek (Berlin).

B. b

xii LIST OF PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS

LOT. S. R. Driver, D.D., Introduction to the Literature ofO.T.

LXX. The Septuagint Version.

mg. or marg. Margin.

MT. The Massoretic Text of the Hebrew O.T.

N.S. New Series.

NSL 6. A. Cooke, D.D., North Semitic Inscriptions.

NT. The New Testament.

OT. The Old Testament.

OTJC. The O. T. in the Jewish Church.

P. The Priestly Document of the Pentateuch.

Parad. Friedrich Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies ?

PEFQS. The Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement.

Rel. Sem. W. Robertson Smith, The Religion of the Semites.

Rev. Bib. Revue Bihlique.

Rev. Et. Juices. Revue des Etudes Juices.

RV. The Revised Version.

SBOT. The Sacred Books of the O.T. edited by Paul Haupt. The vol. on

Jeremiah is by C. H. Cornill.
S. & P. or Sin. & Pal. A. P. Stanley, D.D., Sinai and Palestine in connexion

with their history.
Symm. The Version of Symmachus.
Syr. The Syriac Version.
Targ. The Targum.
Theod. The Version of Theodotion.
Vg. or Vulg. The Vulgate Version.
ZATW. Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, edited by

B. Stade.

INTRODUCTION

§ 1. The Importance of Jeremiah

The book of the prophet Jeremiah is the longest in the Bible ^ and
though the mere volume of matter contained in even an inspired
writing is no sure or final test of its importance — such a test, for
example, would make Ecclesiastes of higher value than the Epistles ol
St John — yet in view of the disappearance of many of the prophetic
utterances, it is evidence of the regard in which Jeremiah was held by
the men of the Jewish Church, that they were at pains to collect and
preserve so many narratives concerning his life, as well as writings
attributed to him. The importance of the book, however, does not
depend on its bulk, and had there come down to us only such fragments
as chh. ix., xv. 15 ff., xvii. 12 ff., and xx. 7 ff. it would hardly be an
exaggeration to say that Jeremiah was still the most valuable book
in OT.

But wherein lies the value of the OT. writings, and what inherent
and quickening quality has enabled them to survive the lapse of time and
the dangers which arise alike from persecution and from indifFerence ?
Is it that they throw an unique light on the primitive customs and
folklore of the Semitic race ? Surely not ; for, though the subject
aroused the occasional curiosity of the ancients, a deep and sustained
interest in the origines of nations is of modern growth and in itself
would hardly have been sufficiently strong to protect and preserve so
much of the literature of a comparatively obscure and despised peopled
Nor is it that the writers of OT., taken as a whole, were gifted above
other men with either critical or literary ability. The literature itseli
qua literature is of very uneven quality and in many places the text is

1 That is if 1 and 2 Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, respectively, be counted as
separate books.

2 To the Jews themselves, who first collected the writings, as to the Christians,
they were not an obscure people ; but their importance was religious not political.

h2

xiv INTRODUCTION [§ 1

so corrupt that no certain clue can be found to its meaning^ Even in
some of the hnest passages the heavy hand of a later editor has often
all but succeeded in destroying the noble workmanship of the true and
skilful artist. It seems impossible to imagine, however, that the whole
of the poetry of the Psalmists and the noble prose of the prophets
could ever have been permanently lost. Again, though OT., or much
of it, does come within Gibbon's definition of history as being ' little
more than a register of the crimes, follies and misfortunes of mankind",'
yet the Jewish writers were notoriously lacking in many of the gifts
which are necessary for the student of history; even in the books
popularly called 'historical,' that sense of proportion, that freedom
from prejudice, which are so requisite in the true historian, are con-
spicuously absents No, the value of OT. lies elsewhere than in the
chronicling of the pomp of kings and the petty majesty of war ; it
lies rather in its being a record of the gradual revelation of what was
to the Jews — or at any rate to the higher minds amongst them — the
supreme good in life, the knowledge of the living God.

The peculiar value of OT., nay of the whole Bible, is not therefore
historical but spiritual or, one might almost say, psychological. Its
value is psychological because it is through the mind of man quickened
by the Holy Spirit that God has given the most intimate revelation of
Himself. Much can be learned of God by studying His handiwork in
Nature, that open book in which he ' who runs may read ' ; much can
be learned from His guiding of the events of history, especially in the
work of preparation for the Incarnation* : but it is from His dealings
with the souls of men — both collectively and as individuals — that God
is to be known most certainly. The unique position which the Bible
occupies, even amongst religious literature, lies in the fact that it
contains a number of records of such dealings'^, and moreover records

^ Cf. Driver, Schiceich Lectures, p. 11 note. 'Hebrew texts, from the character
of the script, are. ..more liable to corruption than Greek texts, and the Ancient
Versions afford convincing evidence that the Old Testament has in very many
places been corrupted seriously.'

- Decline and Fall, &c. i. p. 77 (Methuen's Standard Library Edition).

* The Jewish writers did not claim to write ' history ' ; even books like Joshua,
Judges, Samuel and Kings were included amongst the prophets (see p. Ixxiii). The
omission of the writer of 1 K. xvi. to give to the reign of Omri more than a few
verses shews his non-historical point of view, for according to the evidence of the
inscriptions the reign of Omri was perhaps the most important in the Northern
Kingdom. The only writer in the whole Bible with anything like an adequate
power of writing history in the modern sense was St Luke, and he was a Gentile;
see Ramsay, St Paul the Traveller, &c. pp. 4 f.

* Cf. the Essay by the present Bishop of Winchester in Lux Mundi.

0 Cf. W. Temple, The Faith and Modern Thought, p. 39 : 'we should go back

§ 1] THE IMPORTANCE OF JEREMIAH xv

that are inspired by that Word of God upon whose sojourn on earth
all the scattered rays of revelation are centred and in the power of
whose ascended life alone they are to be interpreted. It is because
Jeremiah amongst the prophets has left the most intimate and im- J"
pressive accounts of what God meant to his soul, of the variety and
richness of his religious experience, that the book which bears his
name — and which most assuredly contains much that tomes directly
from him — has such surpassing importance. The value of Jeremiah,
estimated by this standard, is coming more and more to be realised,
and the writer of a recent book on the prophets, referring to Jer. xx.
7 — 9, goes so far as to say that 'Any discussion of the faith of the
prophets must centre finally in this fervid record of Jeremiah's^'

■^In the present day there is a tendency amongst the majority of
people, including the professedly religious, to neglect and in many
cases altogether to ignore the reading and study of the Bible. Even
amongst Bible students themselves two equally dangerous attitudes of
mind are not uncommon, attitudes of mind which regard the OT. on the
one hand as a collection of obsolete documents, on the other as an
armoury of proof texts^ The effect in each case is the same, the OT.
falls into the background and its influence tends to become more and
more like ' a lingering star with lessening ray.' This modern tendency
to neglect OT. is fraught with much danger, because the two parts of
Holy Scripture are so closely linked together that a study and appre-
ciation of OT. is essential to a due and proper understanding of the
New. It is not merely that the writers of NT. find in OT. a storehouse

to the inspired men of the past, not to find a short cut to truth (there is none),
but to find out how to find truth. These men were in contact with the Divine.
We can learn something of how their conception of the Divine grew in their own
minds, and we can learn by what steps they established their communion with the
Divine, so that following their example we may establish our own.'

1 Buttenwieser, The Prophets of Israel, p. 10. Apart from his self-revelation
Jeremiah has a place of tremendous importance in the history of religion from the
fact that his conception of the relation of God and man was so highly spiritual :
see further under Teaching and Influence.

2 This latter weakness marked the learning of the period before the Eeformation.
' The scholastic divines, holding to a traditional belief in the plenary and verbal
inspiration of the whole Bible, and remorselessly pursuing this belief to its logical
results, had fallen into a method of exposition almost exclusively textarian. The
Bible, both in theory and in practice, had almost ceased to be a record of real
events, and the lives and teacliing of living men. It had become an arsenal of
texts ; and these texts were regarded as detached invincible weapons to be legiti-
mately seized and wielded in theological warfare, for any purpose to which their
words might be made to apply, without reference to their original meaning or
con text.... Thus had the scholastic belief in the verbal inspiration of the sacred
text led men blindly into a condition of mind in which they practically ignored the
scriptures altogether.' Seebohm, The Oxford Reformers, ch. ii. § 1.

xvi INTRODUCTION [§ i

of illustrations and a model of teaching, but, if the meaning of the
Incarnation is to be apprehended in all its fulness, the preparatory-
work carried on in and through the people of Israel must be clearly
understood.

But the teaching of OT. has a value its own, and in particular
the teaching of those great forerunners of the Messiah, the prophets.
Amongst the prophetical books there is none which has a more striking
message for modern times than the book of Jeremiah. Even in the
days before the great European "War the value of a study of this book
was recognised by so clear-sighted a judge as Bishop Westcott, who in
the notice to the second edition of his commentary on the Epistle to
the Hebrews (Sept. 1892) wrote as follows : ' The more I study the
tendencies of the time in some of the busiest centres of English life,
the more deeply I feel that the Spirit of God warns us of our most
urgent civil and spiritual dangers through the prophecies of Jeremiah
and the Epistle to the Hebrews.' But it is since the outbreak of the
war and amidst all the shocks which the traditional faith has had to
undergo, that the supreme importance of Jeremiah's teaching has come
most clearly to be recognised ; and it has come to be recognised
because the situation in which the prophet found himself has so much
in common with that of the present day. His message was delivered
during an age of transition, and delivered moreover to a people whose
beliefs, founded on material conceptions of God, had been shattered by
the course of events, by the harsh tragedies of actual life^

Jeremiah, like every true prophet, was the product of his age (cf.
pp. xxxvi ff.), he had an actual living message for his contemporaries;
but at the same time he was able to rise above his environment and to
proclaim universal principles such as are vahd for all time, and not
least so for the time in which we are ourselves living. It is not within
the scope of this commentary to work out detailed applications of the
teaching of Jeremiah to the problems of the present day, but perhaps
I may be allowed to point out that two of his great doctrines, one in
the religious, the other in the social sphere, are still unreahsed in our
actual hfe as a Church and as a nation. In spite of the teaching of
Jeremiah, and of our Lord Himself, religion still tends to substitute
worship and ritual for obedience to God's commands and for efforts to
make His will done ' on earth as it is in heaven ' ; how much of popular

1 For a fuller treatment of this subject see Mr Oliver C. Quick's Essays in
Orthodoxy, pp. xv ff.

§ 2] THE IMPORTANCE OF JEREMIAH xvii

religion, for example, exhausts itself in churchgoing^? Again in the
matter of justice to the poor and needy, have we not much still to do
before our methods of procedure would be approved by Jeremiah ?
People of the more comfortable classes hardly realise how heavily our
legal system tells against the less influential classes and how the widow
and the stranger are still the subjects of oppression for the benefit of
the wealthy. This is seen ^^ our system of punishing offences by fines,
of inflicting a penalty which to one man may be a month's wages and
to the other hardly the price of a single meal : and again, the expense
of legal procedure, especially when appeals are taken from one court
to the next, often makes it just as impossible for the poor man to get
justice done for him in our own day as it was under a corrupt tyrant
like Jehoiakiml

§ 2. The Times of Jekemiah

In studying any part of the Bible which claims to be considered as
history we are bound to take into account, much more fully than does
OT., the records of contemporary nations. The old-fashioned view
which would treat the history of the chosen people as though they were
entirely separated from their neighbours is quite inadequate. God did
indeed stand in a peculiar relationship to Israel, but that was because
Israel had a peculiar ability for receiving God's revelation. Those who
still cling to the old view tend to place all other nations outside God's
providential dealings. The only worthy and Christian view of history
is that it is all controlled by God, but that nations like individuals may
resist the will of their creator. This statement applies equally to what
we call secular matters and religious matters.

After the fall of Samaria in 722 b.c. and the consequent collapse of
the Northern Kingdom, Judah alone remained as the representative of
the house of IsraeP. Hezbkiah was then reigning in Jerusalem and

1 Dr Eauschenbusch has made this point very clearly, though not without
exaggeration, in Christianity and the Social Crisis, p. 7, where he says: 'This
Christian ceremonial system does not differ essentially from that against which the
prophets protested... .But the point that here concerns us is that a very large part
of the fervour of willing devotion which religion always generates in human hearts
has spent itself on these religious acts. The force that would have been competent
" to seek justice and relieve the oppressed " has been consumed in weaving the tinsel
fringe for the garment of religion. '

2 Cf. Dr Bauschenbusch, Christianizing the Social Order, pp. 332 ff. He is
dealing primarily with America but his statements apply to Great Britain to an
almost equal degree.

■^ By this statement I do not intend to deny that the province of Samaria
exercised an important iniiuence on Jewish thought after 722 b.c.

xviii INTRODUCTION [§ 2

under the guidance of Isaiah he succeeded in preservingtheindependence
of his kingdom, though at times it seemed as if the 'overflowing
scourge ' would engulf Judah as it had already engulfed Samaria. In
addition to preserving the political existence of the nation from the
threatening advance of Assyria, Hezekiah carried through a compre-
hensive reformation of religion; and during his reign, in spite of occa-
sional relapses, such as the reception of the embassy from Merodach-
baladan (Is. xxxix. 1 ff.), he seems to have followed the guidance of what
may be called the prophetic party. Hezekiah was succeeded by his son
Manasseh, a boy of twelve years of age. The new king was evidently
the instrument of that party in the state whose policy in both religious
and secular affairs — the distinction was hardly noticeable in Israel —
was exactly opposed to that of the late government. Manasseh occupied
the throne for 55 years and his long reign served to undo all that had
been accomplished during his father's lifetime ; religion fell back once
more into the old ruts from which it had been raised, and not only so,
but fresh forms of heathenism and superstition were introduced by the
royal power, and eagerly adopted by the people (2 K. xxi. 2 ff. &c.).
This period is amongst the darkest of Hebrew history, though outwardly
there was peace for the greatest part of the reign, and the true wor-
shippers of Jehovah had to remain in hiding, hoping and praying for
the coming of a new monarch and the reaction which would almost
inevitably accompany his accession. Later ages looked back on the reign
of Manasseh as finally sealing the doom of Judah and rendering un-
avoidable the captivity of the nation^. Manasseh was followed by Amon,
but the son walked in all the ways of his father and his government
brought no relief to the devout. Their time of waiting was however
nearing an end ; the reign of Amon was suddenly cut short by a palace
intrigue, and the king was murdered. The conspirators do not seem to
have had influential support and the movement apparently collapsed ;
at any rate the dynasty was preserved, Josiah the youthful son of Amon
being placed on the vacant throne and his father's murderers being put
to death.

Josiah was only eight years old when he came to the throne, and
during the early part of his reign the government was evidently carried
on by the princes of the royal house. Their policy followed the same

lines as that of the two previous reigns, and one who looked upon their

— — — — . ^

^ 2 K. xxiv. 3 f. and Jer. xv. 4. This latter v.^ is almost certainly not by the
prophet himself as it is not in agreement with his constant teaching (see note ad
loc.) but it represents the judgement of a later age.

§ 2] THE TIMES OF JEREMIAH xix

administration with no kindly eye has described them as 'filling their
master's house with violence ^' For this cause therefore the first years
of a reign which was destined to leave a permanent mark on the religious
history of Israel were distinguished by no change of religious policy.
Under the surface, however, there was growing up a strong movement
towards a more spiritual religion; men were disgusted and wearied by
the long barren years since the time of Hezekiah ; everything was ready
for a puritan reaction and the return to power of the prophetic party.
But the return to power of the prophetic party was not likely to take
place of itself; what was needed was some striking event to rouse men's
minds and to stir the country to its very depths. Such an event was
not long delayed. Josiah had hardly reached the thirteenth year of his
reign when the dark and mysterious barriers of the North were uplifted,
as they had been many times before, and the Scythian hordes came
rushing forth to invade Palestine^. Not very much is known of the
history of this people ^ who issued from their homes North of the Black
Sea and spread terror and devastation wherever they went. The flood
of invasion swept over Palestine as far as Egypt where the bribes of
the reigning Pharaoh, supported by the strongly garrisoned frontier,
succeeded in checking it. The Scythians retraced their steps through
Palestine and turned aside into Mesopotamia which thus had one more
element of disruption added to it for the next twenty years. Judah
seems to have been left untouched by the invader, thanks no doubt to
the natural inaccessibility of its situation and to the absence of attractive
plunder, but the danger was sufficiently threatening to call forth the
voice of prophecy, so long silent in the land, and it is to this period
in all probability that the book of Zephaniah belongs, and even more
important, the first utterances of .Jeremiah. The advent of a prophet
and the presence amongst them of messengers whose words stamped
them as truly accredited of God roused the king and the people, and
in the eighteenth year of his reign Josiah put himself at the head of
the reforming party and began to repair the temple*. During the repairs

1 Zeph. i. 9.

- Cf. i. 15 : ' out of the North shall evil break forth upon all the inhabitants of
the land.'

^ See Herod, i. 103 ff., iv. 64. The Scythians were looked upon by the Greeks
as typical of all that was worst amongst the barbarians and their savagery was
proverbial. However in the Kingdom of Jesus Christ there is hope even for the
barbarous Scythian (of. Col. iii. 11 ; Justin, Dial. §28). For fuller details of the
history of this people see Eawlinson, And. Monarchies'^, ii. 225 f. ; Driver, LOT.^
pp. 252 f.

* So 2 K. xxii. 3 : according to 2 Ch. xxxiv. 3, in the twelfth year. It may be
noted in passing that the account in Kings makes the reform depend on the

XX , INTRODUCTION [§ 2

'a book of Torali^' was discovered by Hilkiah the priest and banded
on to Shaphan the scribe, who read it and, recognising its importance,
immediately carried it to the king. The contents of the book filled
Josiah with alarm, and rending his clothes he sent to make enquiries
of a certain prophetess named Huldah who was the wife of one of bis
officers^ Huldah returned the answer that judgement must indeed fall
upon 'the guilty nation but that it would not be in the lifetime of the
king himself. In spite of this reply^ which was calculated to check all
attempts at reform, Josiah determined to make a vigorous effort to
cleanse the religion of his country and to bring it nearer to the ideal
which was presented in the newly discovered book. As a first step
towards reform a popular assembly was convened in the temple area
and the book was read to the people. At the close of the reading,
which evidently moved all present to a sense of their peril, the king
and people entered into a solemn covenant before God to adopt the
commands of the book as the national law.

According to the somewhat idealised account in 2 K. xxlii. the
reformation was effected in five main directions, though in all proba-
bility many of the abuses there stated to have been remedied succeeded
in escaping, at any rate in part, the attentions of the reformers. («) The
temple was purified from all traces of Baal worship; and even the
sacred objects, including the Asherim (see note on xvii. 2) and the
pillars (see note on xxvii. 19), were destroyed. These had originally
been taken over from the Canaanites, but by this time must have been
considered a part of the national cultus (see vv. 4, 6, 11; cf. Dt.
xii. 3, xvi. 22 and contrast Ex. xxiv. 4). (b) The 'idolatrous priests'
were put down together with their altars and images (v. 5). The

finding' of the book ; whilst in 2 Ch. xxxiv. — xxxv. the reformation is carried
out first and the book is discovered as a direct result of the reforms. Probably the
later -writer could not understand the king's action in continuing a reform when
the prophetess had said that it would be of no avail in saving the nation. (Cf. es-
pecially 2 Ch. xxxiv. 8 with 2 K. xxiii. 2ff.)

1 See note on ii. 8 for the meaning of Torah. There has been much disagree-
ment among critics as to what is here referred to, it can hardly be the whole
Pentateuch as the document was read through in one sitting. Most scholars think
that what Hilkiah discovered was Dt., or at any rate the kernel of it (see Driver,
Deut. p. xlv). At the same time it ought perhaps to be pointed out that the
account of the discovery in 2 K. xxii. — xxiii. shews marks of a Deuteronomic
compiler and that many of the coincidences both of language and of matter may
be due to his influence.

2 It is strange that there is no mention of either Jeremiah or Zephaniah in
connexion with the king's enquiry.

3 The form of Huldah's reply, however, is probably due to the later Deuteronomic
historian ; cf . 1 K. xxi. 28 f.

§ 2] THE TIMES OF JEREMIAH xxi

'chariots and horses of the sun' (v. 11) were doubtless borrowed from
Babylon where the sun-god was represented as riding in such a chariot
(cf. Dt. xvii. sy. (c) Those who engaged in immoral rites in con-
nexion with religion were destroyed, as well as all wizards and magicians
(m 7, 24; cf. Dt. xxiii. 17 f., xviii. 10 b— U). (d) The offering of
children to Molech was forbidden (v. 10; cf. Dt. xviii. 10 a). (e) The Pnob: «-.MoIj
high places and local sanctuaries were destroyed {vv. 8 f. ; cf. Dt. ^ , ■ j^^j.
xii. 13 f.). This last reform was in effect the disestablishment of every
sanctuary outside Jerusalem, together with its priests. There can be
no doubt that in many of the local shrines the worship offered to
Jehovah had become very corrupt ; it must be remembered that there
was much rivalry between the various sanctuaries (cf. Am. v. 5, viii. 14)
and that their guardians in the endeavour to attract worshippers would
be tempted to countenance every kind of vicious practice. Wellhausen
compares the advice of Luther to the princes of Germany that the field
chapels and churches should be destroyed, on the ground that they
were 'devices of the devil used by him to strengthen covetousness, to
set up a false and spurious faith, to weaken parish churclies, to increase
taverns and fornication, to squander money and labour to no purpose,
and merely to lead the poor people about by the nose-.' In as far as it
did away with such abuses the policy of centralisation was a step in
the right direction.

The actual carrying out of the reform must have been made much
easier by the destruction of forty-six of the fenced cities of Judah at
the time of Sennacherib's invasion (2 K. xviii. 13), a disaster from
which they could hardly have recovered, but which had left Jerusalem
untouched and consequently supreme in material power, and, what was
even more important, with the reputation of being an inviolable sanc-
tuary. At the same time the destruction of the local shrines meant
that the priests whose livelihood was gained by attending them were
thrown out of employment, and that ill-feeling was aroused against the
'Jerusalem monopoly.' The effect upon the common people could hardly
fail to be to remove God out of their everyday life and to make the
outward part of their religion mainly a matter of pilgrimages and visits
to the distant capitaP. It must, however, be remembered that Jerusalem

1 The ancient Greeks dedicated chariots and horses to the sun who needed
them, so they believed, for his journey across the sky: cf. J. G. Frazer, Magic
Art, I. p. 315 ; H. Zimmern in KAT.^ pp. 369 ff.

2 Prolegomena, p. 27.

2 Cf. Driver, Deut. p. xxix : ' The limitation of the public worship of Jehovah to
Jerusalem... may seem indeed to us to be a retrograde step and inconsistent with

xxii INTRODUCTION [§ 2

was not at a very great distance from any part of a kingdom whose total
area was not much more than that of an EngHsh county. According to
2 K. xxiii. 15 ff. the reform penetrated to Bethel which was outside
the nominal territory of Josiah. There is nothing improbable in this
extension, and other evidence exists of a close connexion in matters of
religion between Jerusalem and the inhabitants of what had been the
Northern Kingdom (Jer. xli. 5 ff.) ; and Josiah did not scruple to traverse
the territories of Assyria if he found it necessary (2 K. xxiii. 29) ^
The weakness of the reformation seems to have been that it quite
evidently set a standard of religious life for which the nation as a whole
was not yet ready ; the truth of this criticism is clearly demonstrated
by the violent reaction which followed the death of Josiah. The king
was apparently of an enthusiastic and even fanatical disposition^ and
no doubt he carried with him in the movement many who had no real
desire for reform. It is almost certain that in this, as in all similar
enterprises, amongst the ranks of the reformers were men who were
moved by very mixed motives, who in the desire to obtain the favour
of those in power pretended to share in their lofty aims, members of

' That ungracious crew which feigns demurest grace.'

It is a strange and at the same time a notable fact that Jeremiah seems
to have taken no part in the revival — possibly there is a reference to
his having done so in xi. 1 ff. (see notes ad loc.) — and in his references
to Josiah's memory he praises him not for his efforts in purifying religion,
but for his just and upright rule (xxii. 15). Perhaps the prophet felt
that the reforms did not go far enough, especially in the matter of
sacrifice (cf. vii. 21 ff.); or he may have suspected the motives of the
reformers, or have felt that the king was being used as a tool by the

the author's (of Dt.) lofty conception of the Divine nature (x. 14): but partly it
was a result of the national feeling of Israel, to which the prophets, even in their
most exalted moments, were hardly ever wholly superior, and which looked up to
the national Temple on Zion as specially honoured by Jehovah's presence ; partly
it arose out of the circumstances of the age, which made the local sanctuaries
centres of impure or unspiritual rites.'

1 Canon Kennett rejects the historicity of 2 K. xxiii. 15 ff. , probably correctly,
see ' The Origin of the Aaronite Priesthood ' in J. Th. S. for Jan. 1905.

2 Commenting on Josiah's violence against those whose ways he condemned.
Dean Stanley remarks: 'It was the first direct persecution that the kingdom of
Judah had witnessed on behalf of the True Keligion. Down to this time the
mournful distinction had been reserved for the half-pagan King Manasseh. But
the cruelty had here, as in all like cases, provoked a corresponding cruelty ; and
the reformation of Josiah, if from his youth and his zeal it has suggested his
likeness to our Edward VI, by its harsher features encouraged the rough acts
which disfigured so many of the best efforts of that and other like movements of
the Christian Church.' Jewish Church, ii. p. 425.

§ 2] THE TIMES OF JEREMIAH xxiii

Jerusalem Priesthood. The expedition against Pharaoh Necho in which
Josiah met his death is probably another exhibition of the same enthu-
siastic and visionary spirit as inspired the reformation ; whether this is
so or not and whatever the motives or hopes which may have prompted
it, the expedition to Megiddo was a disastrous failure, and as Dr Pusey
has well said 'in Josiah's death the last gleam of the sunset of Judah
faded into nights' After the battle of Megiddo Necho evidently con-
tinued his advance, leaving Jerusalem for the time in peace. The op-
portunity was thereupon seized by the people of the land to choose
their own king and to place on the throne Josiah's younger sou Jehoahaz.
The new king almost certainly intended to continue his father's anti-
Egyptian policy and his election was no doubt inspired by the prophetic
party. It is to be noticed that in Jeremiah's lament over Jehoahaz under
the name of Shallum (xxii. 10 — 12) there is no trace of any disapproval
or criticism (contrast the conventional and late comment of 2 K.
xxiii. 32) ; and according to Ezekiel the king was already famous as a
warrior (xix. 3 f ). If the prophetic party entertained any hopes from
the prowess of Jehoahaz and the similarity of his policy to that of Josiah,
their hopes were speedily disappointed, for his brief reign of three months
was ended by a summons to appear before Necho at Riblah. No record
remains of what took place at the interview but the Judean king was
deposed and carried in chains to Egy|3t.

Having disposed of Jehoahaz in this summary manner, Necho pro-
ceeded to place on the throne his elder brother Eliakim and changed his
name to Jehoiakim. He also imposed a tribute upon the land of 100
talents of silver and one of gold (2 K. xxiii. 33). In view of the long
period of peace during the reign of Josiah and the opportunities which
it must have given for increasing the prosperity of the kingdom, this
tribute was not an excessive amount; Jehoiakim, at any rate, does not
seem to have looked upon it as exhausting the wealth of his people
and he raised heavy taxes from them for his own private building
schemes^. These operations were evidently conducted on a large and
generous scale and the chief ambition of the king appears to have been
to rival the courts of neighbouring powers. In the historical books this
extra taxation is barely mentioned (2 K. xxiii. 35) ; Jeremiah, however,

^ The motives which underlay Josiah's action are very obscure owing to our
lack of information and I have discussed them elsewhere (see J. Th. S. xviii. pp. 40 f .) ;
possibly he felt it was his duty as the vassal of Assyria to endeavour to stop the
Egyptians ; or it may well have been that he hoped to restore the boundaries of the
ancient Jewish monarchy.

2 Hitzig compares Sallust, Bell. Jug. 31 ; Tacitus, Hist. iv. 2.

xxiv INTRODUCTION [§ 2

gives a much more detailed account, also stating that the new king
was extravagant and unjust in the use which he made of forced labour
(xxii. 13 — 17). It has been suggested that Jehoiakim's efforts were
intended to strengthen the kingdom against its foes (cf. xxii. 23), but
it is hardly likely that Necho would allow a vassal to add to the forti-
fications in his territory. The king seems to have been a bitter opponent
of the prophetic party and had at least one prophet put to death
(xxvi. 20 — 23); his eff"orts against Jeremiah and Baruch were less
successful owing to the protection which was aff"orded them by some
of the princes (xxxvi. 26 ; cf. v. 25 and xxvi. 24). Jehoiakim may have
been, as Josephus says, 'unjust and malignant; neither holy towards
God, nor forbearing towards man'/ but as he appears in Jer. he is a
real man, one who is able to make up his mind and to carry out his
plans. The kings of Judah are for the most part mere names and
though Zedekiah is described with some detail, yet he is so feeble and
characterless that he seems to glide across the prophet's life like a feature-
less ghost. Jehoiakim by the single incident narrated in xxxvi. 20 ff". is
revealed as a person of strong and determined character. It is only
necessary to study the action of the nobles in his reign, when even the
strongest sympathisers with the prophets had to work in secret and
in fear (xxxvi. 19), with the insolent and overbearing conduct of their
inferior successors in the reign of Zedekiah (xxxviii. 24 ff". &c.), to
realise the difference between the two men.

The Egyptian supremacy in Asia which had been the cause of
Jehoiakim's elevation to the throne did not last very long; in 607 or
606 B.C. Nineveh fell before the Medes and Babylonians, and in 605
Necho himself was completely crushed at Carchemish by Nebuchad-
rezzar, the son and general of Nabopolassar the new Babylonian monarch.
A description of the battle, one of the most important in the world's
history, has been preserved in Jer. xlvi. 1 — 12, which tells how Egypt's
'mighty ones were beaten down, they fled away and looked not back;
their swift and mighty men stumbled and fled.' Nebuchadrezzar was
not able to take immediate advantage of his victory, as the death of
his father and the consequent unsettlement demanded the presence
in Babylon of the new monarch. The Chaldeans, however, eventually
returned and Jehoiakim had perforce to submit. As the nominee of
Egypt Jehoiakim may be presumed to have been pro-Eg}^tian in his
sympathies, and he seems to have found the yoke of Babylon very

^ Ant. X. v. 2.

§ 2] THE TIMES OF JEREMIAH xxv

heavy; accordingly after three years he refused tribute and entered
into open rebellion (2 K. xxiv. 1). Josephus tells us that it was in
reliance upon the assistance of Egypt that he took this step\ If the
people of Judah expected to receive help from their neighbours such
expectations were soon proved to be vain ; on the contrary the nations
round about looked upon Judah as a lawful prey, and bands of Chal-
deans, Syrians (? Edomites), Moabites and Ammonites speedily invaded
the doomed country intent on plunder (2 K. xxiv. 2). Jehoiakim died
before the extent of his folly became visible and his son Coniah was
left to face the fury of the Babylonian advanced

The new king adopted the name of Jehoiachin (he is called Coniah
in xxii. 24, and Jeconiah in ^xiv. 1 and in 1 Ch. iii. 16). His reign
like that of Jehoahaz lasted only three months and he seems to have
been very much under the influence of the queen-mother Nehushta
(see note on xiii. 18). The men of Jerusalem were wise enough to
submit after a very short siege and so the city was spared, for the time,
the horrors which afterwards came upon it; the king however and his
principal nobles, together with the craftsmen and warriors, were carried
away to Babylon^. Jehoiachin was perhaps the most fortunate of the
later kings of Judah as he was apparently well treated by his captors,
and Evil-merodach, the successor of Nebuchadrezzar, released him from
confinement and 'spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the
thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon' (Jer. Iii. 32).
Nebuchadrezzar placed on the throne of the enfeebled kingdom the
youngest of Josiah's sons and therefore the uncle of the last king. He
exercised what seems to have been the suzerain's right by changing the
king's name from Mattaniah to Zedekiah. Zedekiah seems to have
been chosen for his weakness of character, and all through his unhappy
reign he appears to have been at the mercy of the man or the party
which was nearest to him for the time being. In considering the people

^ Ant. X. vL 2.

^ I follow tiie account contained in 2 K. xxiv., which says that Jehoiakim was
buried in peace {v. 6), and that Jerusalem did not fall until the next reign (v. 12).
The chronicler makes Nebuchadrezzar carry Jehoiakim in chains to Babylon
(2 Ch. xxxvi. 6) but his account evidently confuses Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin;
Josephus (Ant. x. vi. 3) states that Jerusalem was entered by the Chaldeans on
friendly terms and that the king was treacherously murdered by them.

^ It should be noticed that among the captives taken to Babylon in the first
dejDortation was the prophet Ezekiel, and that he dates the beginning of the
Captivity from the first fall of Jerusalem. There is some difficulty in arriving at
the actual date of the city's fall ; in 2 K. xxiv. 12 it is said to have been in the
eighth year of Nebuchadrezzar (i.e. 597 b.c.) but in Jer. Iii. 28 the seventh year is
given as the date of the beginning of the Captivity ; this latter date agrees with
the statement in 2 K, xxv. 27, where see Skinner's note.

xxvi INTRODUCTION [§ 2

who controlled him it must be remembered that all the best and most
experienced of the nation had been carried away to Babylon.

Jeremiah spent all his energies in trying to keep the king faithful
to the oath of allegiance which he had sworn to Nebuchadrezzar (Ez.
xvii. 13 ff.) and for a time he was successful, though in the fourth year
of his reign (594 — 593 B.C.) the king entered into certain negotiations
with Moab, Ammon and Tyre (xxvii. 1 ff.). Necho had died in 594
and it is possible that the plotting against Babylon which broke out
about this time in Palestine was inspired by his successor Psamme-
tichus II. Cornill thinks that the conspiracy failed to come to a head
because war broke out suddenly between Egypt and Ethiopia and so
deprived the smaller states of that support^ without which any attempt
to throw off the yoke of Babylon would have been mere foolishness^
According to Jer. li. 59, Zedekiah made a journey to Babylon about
this time probably to explain his conduct to his overlord and to give
pledges of his loyalty. The inevitable end, however, could not be long
delayed; the weak king surrounded by ambitious courtiers and tempted
by the promises of the neighbouring peoples made common cause with
Moab and Ammon and appealed to Egypt for protection. Jerusalem
was immediately invested ; it held out stubbornly for a year and a half
but at length a breach was made in the North side (2 K. xxv. 2—3) and
the king and his army fled out by the opposite gate. The fugitives were
captured near Jericho and taken to Nebuchadrezzar at Eiblah, The
long and troublesome resistance of Jerusalem made any plea for mercy
vain; the king's sons were slain in their father's sight; his own eyes
were put out, and he was taken to Babylon in chains, there to remain
until his death. The temple and palaces of Jerusalem were razed to
the ground together with the walls, and the bulk of the population
was taken captive to Babylon, seventy of the principal men being exe-
cuted (2 K. xxv. 4 — 10). This final and overwhelming disaster was
undoubtedly due to the feeble and vacillating character of the king,
who in words which Bishop Stubbs applied to John of England had
'neither grace nor splendour, strength nor patriotism.' Zedekiah is
indeed a pitiable example of a man occupying a position of responsi-
bility for which he was not fitted and for which he probably had no
desire. The gifts of kindly feeling and the desire to do what was right
which he possessed would have been estimable virtues in private life,
but, unsupported as they were by strength of character or the power
of taking any decisive step, they brought about the ruin of his country.
1 Das Buch Jeremia, pp. 305 f .

§ 2] THE TIMES OF JEREMIAH xxvii

Zedekiah had just enough power to retain his throne, yet not enough
to be the real ruler of the nation ; he had just enough fear of God to
prevent his doing anything violently wrong, but not enough to make
him active in God's service. He is a typical example of lukewarmness,
one who was neither hot nor cold and whose final doom was worse than
that of a thoroughgoing and determined despot like Jehoiakim.

Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam Jeremiah's protector, was put in charge
of the ruined province. Jeremiah himself went at first with the other
captives as far as Ramah, but on permission being given to him he
returned and threw in his lot with those who remained in the land.
Jerusalem having been destroyed, the headquarters of the new com-
munity were fixed at Mizpah, and to this centre there gradually col-
lected the roving bands which had escaped from the Babylonians. For
two months all went well and the beginnings of what must have seemed
to the prophet a new social order were successfully made, when an
unexpected disaster overtook the community \ The governor was slain
by Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, acting for the king of Ammon ; where-
upon the remnant of the people fled to Egypt, taking the reluctant
prophet with them.

The experiment which Nebuchadrezzar made in appointing a Jew
as governor of the conquered province exhibits the Babylonians in a
very favourable light. It was a policy attended with grave risks in
view of the continued rebellions of the people of Judah in the past, and
though the experiment failed it was through no fault on the part of the
new governor, unless indeed excessive trust in the good faith of others
can be termed a fault. Gedaliah had evidently been chosen with great
care, and he seems to have gained the trust of the Jews as well as of
the Babylonians, as is shewn by the crowds of fugitives who returned
to take refuge under his protection. His murder was most probably
the act of one who was utterly opposed to any submission to Babylon
and to any recognition of its right to appoint a governor. Ishmael

1 Canon Kennett thinks that the governorship of Gedaliah may have lasted for
a mneh longer time than is usually supposed. He writes to me as follows : ' The
date of the murder of Gedaliah is very doubtful. Jerusalem did not fall till the
7th day of the 6th mouth of the lltli year of Zedekiah. After that the incidents
related in Jer. xxxix. 4ii. must have taken some time, and also the return of the
fugitives related in xl. 11, 12. If Gedaliah was murdered in the 7th month there
scarcely seems time for all this to happen. Jer. lii. 30 mentions a third deportation
not recorded in Kings, and this third deiDortation must have been in consequence
of some insurrection. It seems to me probable that it was in consequence of the
murder of Gedaliah, and I should therefore regard his governorship as lasting
seven years.'

B. C

xxviii INTRODUCTION [§ 2

may also have been disgusted that a member of the royal house should
accept such a degrading position and act in a subordinate post under
a conqueror.

§ 3. The Life of Jeremiah

There are men to whom God's voice comes as they wander in some
lonely garden at the cool of the day; there are others who hear it
amidst the blaze of a midday sun upon the open highway ; but, when-
ever the hour and wherever the place, the true servant of God is
always ready to welcome the Divine message, to receive which his
mind and conscience have long been preparing him. But though this
preparation may have been long, going behind even the birth of the
person concerned ^ yet it does not follow that he himself has been
conscious of the process. Such seems to have been the case with
Jeremiah, who evidently first realised his vocation at the time when he
was called to fulfil it, and who had remained ignorant of the Divine
care which had watched over him from his very birth.

The name of the prophet's father according to the heading of
the book (i. 1) was Hilkiah, but nothing is known of his history or
character (there is no reason for identifying him with the high priest of
the same name mentioned in 2 K. xxii.). His home was at Anathoth,
a small village lying amongst the heights of Benjamin, 'just out of
sight of Jerusalem V but on the great highway from it to the North.
The outlook from Anathoth towards the wilderness was stern and
desolate and doubtless influenced the mind of Jeremiah, as is shewn
by the images which he used (cf. ii. 31, iv. 11, &c.); 'from its site the
land falls away in broken barren hills to the North end of the Dead
Sea. The vision of that desert maze was burnt into the prophet's
mind, and he contrasted it with the clear ordered word of God^'
Anathoth is included in the list of priestly cities in Josh. xxi. 18 and
is associated with the priestly family of Abiathar (1 K. ii. 26), but it
is quite uncertain whether Jeremiah or even his father were members
of the priestly guild (see on i. !)■*.

1 Cf. H. p. Liddon, ' When God forms a human life to do some appointed task,
His preparatory action may be traced in the circumstances of hereditary descent
not less than in other provisions whether of Nature or of Grace.'

2 Dean Stanley, Sin. and Pal. p. 166.

3 G. A. Smith, Hist. Geog. p. 315.

^ If Jeremiah was a priest when the call came to him he must be reckoned as
the fii'st of the canonical prophets who had such an origin.

§ 3] THE LIFE OF JEREMIAH xxix

It is greatly to be regretted that no descriptions of the appearance
of Jeremiah have come down to us ; what would we not give to have
some slight sketch, it may be, of the young prophet as he was when
first God's voice came to him, sketches such as St Thomas of Celano
has preserved of St Francis in his early days when he was pondering
over the claims of the Divine will upon his life and allegiance? And
even if such a detailed picture be denied to us, some single illu-
minating touch — as when it is said of David that ' he was ruddy, and
withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look upon^ ' ; or of
Saul that ' he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and
upwards^' — would be of untold value in helping us to realise that
Jeremiah was an actual living and suffering man such as we ourselves
are. We tend so constantly to look upon the prophets as ' personified
qualities in an allegory' and quite fail to invest them ' with the reality
of human flesh and blood.' The Hebrews as a whole seem to have had
but little interest in the physical appearance of their great men, nor
do they seem to have regarded that other aspect of their physical
being, bodily health. Jeremiah can talk of the state as being sick
unto death, and can liken the false prophets to unskilled physicians,
but he does not seem to have realised that his own constant change
of mood, now unduly depressed, now too highly exalted, may have been,
in part at any rate, the result of the humours of the body.

Jeremiah reveals nothing of his inner life before God's call came to
him, though from his general attitude it seems certain that his longings
and desires were of a religious nature. He had probably studied the
works of ihe earlier prophets, his predecessors, with a loving diligence ^
and was no doubt familiar with their histories as handed down to his
own times, and this knowledge may have had much to do with his
hesitation and shrinking back when he was called to the same office.
Who was he that he should dare to take his place beside the prophets
of old, beside Amos and Hosea, Isaiah and Micah ?

The call evidently came to him when he was still quite young
(though 'child' in i. 6 is not to be taken literally, see note ad loc).
It came to him first in the thirteenth year of Josiah (626 B.C.), which
was also the year in which Esarhaddon's long reign of forty-two years

1 1 S. xvi. 12.

■' 1 S. X. 23.

3 His vsTitings bear marks of the influence of Hosea especially (see p. Ixix) ; it
must not, however, be taken for granted that Jeremiah's study of these writings,
antedated his call, though from the nature of the case it is exceedingly likely.

c2

XXX INTRODUCTION [§ 3

came to an end : possibly some disturbance in connexion with the
succession unknown to us may have quickened Jeremiah's prophetic
instincts, but it is much more likely that he first realised the state of
his nation and the imminence of judgement by the near approach of the
Scythians which took place about this time (see p. xix.). Jerusalem
itself escaped the danger, and Jeremiah's credit as a prophet must
have been severely shaken ; he knew however that he was not mistaken
as to the final fate of the nation if repentance were delayed, and
during the remaining eighteen years of the reign of Josiah he con-
tinued to attack abuses and corruptions both in the moral and in the
ecclesiastical life around him. It was stated above that Jeremiah
took no active or at least no prominent part in the reformation of
Josiah, but even so his teaching must have prepared for it and
reinforced its lessons. At the same time he warns the people that
mere ceremonial is useless, even though it be performed at a purified
sanctuary. Such opposition as Jeremiah encountered during the reign
of Josiah, and apparently he exercised his ministry continually (xxv. 3),
must have been of a private and spiteful character as he was probably
countenanced by the king. With the accession of Jehoiakim, how-
ever, all was changed, the prophet's life became a burden to him and
constant persecution was his lot for the remainder of his life.

Such a series of experiences was involved in his acceptance of
God's call to him, as he doubtless realised at the time, for though the
philosopher may, as Plato says, 'stand out of the way under a wall
until the driving storm of sleet and rain be overpast,' the prophet of
God can never think of himself or the dangers of his mission and the
hardships which it will involve ; if he does so, he will assuredly unfit
himself for his vocation and be put to shame in the presence of those
who oppose him (i. 17). Until his message is delivered the prophet
should know that nothing that he fears can overwhelm him, and so he
must go about amongst his people with perfect confidence, sharing if
need be in the dangers and discomforts of their situation, making
them aware of the source from which these have come and of the sin
which is their ultimate cause. But at the same time it is no necessary
part of the work of the prophet to find solutions for all the problems
of the times in which he lives. His duty is rather to point them out,
to discover their significance, and to define the limits within which
they are really vital ; and if in addition he points men's minds to the
ever-present reality of a living God in whom all problems find their
solution, then may he entrust to others the working out of the details

§ 3] THE LIFE OF JEREMIAH xxxi

of his teaching. In other words, the function of the prophet is to deal
with principles, and to leave to the priest and the ruler their application
to everyday life.

Such a course of action is always bound to result in suffering and
persecution, and the prophet often finds himself standing alone as the
witness of righteousness. Loyalty to his mission and to the con-
victions which inspire and sustain him compels him to attack customs
and beliefs which are the cherished possessions of those in power, the
sacred deposit which must be defended by every means against the
desecration of the profane. In a state like Judah where religion and
politics were hardly to be distinguished, and where, in the words of a
recent writer, ' religious conceptions ' were ' mixed up with angry
political passions and carnal dreams V any attack on the one could not
be carried out without a collision with the other. The prince and the
ecclesiastic were the joint guardians of the established order. If
Jeremiah had restricted his teaching to the promulgation of the mystic
truth that God is a spirit and that therefore He demands spiritual
worship (without definitely stating that sacrifices and offerings were
not spiritual), very possibly he would have been allowed to go on
his way as a harmless enthusiast; but when he attacked the temple
worship and the maladministration of the authorities he became
dangerous, the threat to vested interests was too obvious and pressing
to be ignored ; all parties combined to crush him. Once the true
inwardness of his teaching and all that it involved were discovered,
his life became a burden to him, and his sensitive soul was wrung by
the hatred of those around him (xv. 10, 17 f.). He was openly con-
tradicted (xxiii. 17, xxvii. 9 flf., xxviii., xxix.) and mocked (xvii. 15,
XX. 7 f, xxiii. 33); false accusations were brought against him (xx. 10,
xxxvii. 13, xxxviii. 4); he was repeatedly imprisoned (xx. 2, xxxii. 3,
xxxiii. 1, xxxvii. 13 — 21, xxxviii. 6 — 13); twice he was beaten (xx.
1 — 3, xxxvii. 11 — 16); and on at least four occasions his life was
threatened, sometimes by treacherous attacks (xi. 18 — 21, xviii. 18 —
23), once by the royal command (xxxvi. 26), and once by the more
subtle methods of legal procedure (xxvi. 8 f.).

Of the prophet's life during the later years of Jehoiakim the book
gives us little information. After his attack on the temple and the

^ The author of Pro Christo et Ecclesia in the volume entitled Concerning
Prayer, p. 148. In their original context the words are applied to a later period of
Jewish history, but they are equally true of the times of Jeremiah.

xxxii INTRODUCTION [| 3

whole sacrificial system', an attack which nearly cost him his life,
Jeremiah seems to have gone into retirements But such a with-
drawal from actual preaching did not mean that the prophet was
inactive; on the contrary, he seized the opportunity to dictate, in
response to the Divine command, a summary of his discourses, which
he thereupon had presented to the king by the hand of his scribe
Baruch, son of Neriah. The indignant and blasphemous conduct of
the king has already been referred to, he burnt the roll and tried to
apprehend its author, but without success, Jeremiah was ' hidden by the
Lords '

We are told nothing of the prophet's fortunes during the first siege
of Jerusalem, but on the accession of Zedekiah he once more appears
upon the scene. During this, the last reign of Jewish history, Jeremiah
had to meet with much opposition from prophets whose claim to be
representatives of Jehovah was exactly the same as his ownS The
message of these prophets was, however, unlike his, one of hope, the
exiles were to return from Babylon and to bring with them the vessels
of the temple which had been conveyed thither after the fall of the
city. The encounter between Jeremiah and one of these prophets,
Hananiah by name, is described in detail, together with the subsequent
fate of the latter, and there can be but little doubt that this incident
is only one instance of what was continually occurringS In spite of
his gloomy views of their future and his denial of the possibility of
any speedy return, Jeremiah had a very high regard for the members
of the first deportation, that is in comparison with those who remained
behind, the difference between them was similar to that between good
figs and bads He further shewed his interest in them by sending
to Babylon a letter of warning and advice, a letter which aroused
some amount of indignation both in Babylon and in Judah itself.
When Zedekiah finally threw in his lot with the Anti-Babylonian
party and revolted, Jeremiah's position became one of great difficulty,
and he suffered at this time many of the indignities to which reference
was made above, on one occasion his life was only preserved by the
courage and humanity of an Ethiopian eunuchS During the course
of the siege the prophet was frequently consulted by the king, and

1 See vii. 1 ff. and xxvi. 1 ff. with notes.

2 Whether this retirement was compulsory or voluntary it is impossible to say ;
see on xxxvi. 5.

3 xxxvi. 26. * See Additional Note, pp. 182 ff.
5 xxviii. Iff., cf. also xxiii. 9fl.

^ xxiv. ^ xxix. ^ xxxviii. 1 ff.

§ 3] THE LIFE OF JEREMIAH xxxiii

appeals were made to him for soiiie promise of consolation and hope\ but
he remained steadfast to his message that in surrender alone lay the
hope of safety. Teaching such as this was bound to be resented by
those responsible for the defence of the city, and when, in an interval
of the siege caused by the advance of an army of relief from Egypt,
Jeremiah essayed to go down to his native village, they seized the
opportunity of arresting him as a deserter". This attempt of the
Egyptians to relieve Jerusalem, which in the end proved abortive, was
a cause of the prophet's gaining further disfavour with his fellow-
countrymen. Inspired by fear of punishment and perhaps hoping for
Jehovah's favour, the men of Jerusalem had released their slaves
in accordance with the requirements of the law ; but when the
Babylonians withdrew they once more enforced their claims for service.
Such contempt for the rights of God and man could not be allowed to
pass uncondemned by the representative of Jehovah, and the prophet
was unmeasured in his denunciations I When the Chaldeans finally
entered the city Jeremiah received special care at their hands, though
the exact sequence of events is hard to follow*, and in spite of the
opportunity of going to Babylon he chose to remain with the scanty
remnant of the nation gathering round Gedaliah at Mizpah. For
a short time a new hope seemed to dawn and then darkness once more
descended for ever, Gedaliah was slain and the prophet taken down to
Egypt, where, so tradition says, he met his death at the hands of his
fellow-exiles. If this tradition is true, as it well may be in spite of
its late date, his death was a fitting climax to a life spent in the devoted
service of an ungrateful nation ^

If the life of Jeremiah be judged according to the standards of
worldly success and failure, that is by reference to the ends which he
set before himself, or even by comparison with the achievements of
other prophets and reformers, it must be reckoned a failure. A study
of his utterances shews that the prophet's ministry had two main
objectives ; first, to arouse the people to a more worthy conception of the
character of God, and of the worship due to Him ; and then by means of

^ xxi., xxxvii. Iff., xxxviii. 14 ff.

' xxxviii. 11 ff.

'^ xxxiv. 8 ff. ■* See notes on xl. 1 — 6.

* For a collection of traditions regarding .Jeremiah's sojourn in Egypt and his
subsequent fate see Enc. Bib. 2368. The tradition that the prophet was stoned
comes from Christian sources (Tert. Scorpiace 8; Jerome, adv. Jov. ii. 37).
According to the Jews he escaped from Egj'pt and went with Baruch to Babylon
where he died.

xxxiv INTRODUCTION [§ 3

a newly-awakened national conscience to influence the rulers in such
a way as to banish injustice and oppression at home, and to bring to
an end the system of petty intrigues and alliances which had become
traditional in the foreign politics of the nation.

A comparison between the two somewhat similar ministries of
Isaiah and Jeremiah — similar that is in aim rather than in performance,
though both prophets were witnesses of reforms in religion and both
went through the experience of a foreign invasion — suggests that the
reasons for the success of the one and the failure of the other lay in
the difference between (a) their outward circumstances ; and (b) their
inward character.

(a) Jeremiah had an infinitely harder task to perform than had
Isaiah, for the period which elapsed between them had been one of
decline in nearly every department of the national life\ Though the
ministry of Isaiah had been a success and the policy suggested by him
had been adopted by the leaders of the people^, yet his warnings and
the more spiritual parts of his teaching had been ignored. In fact the
very success of his policy had tended to confirm the men of Judah in
their conviction that Jehovah would never desert Jerusalem and that
it was therefore inviolable. Furthermore, Isaiah was able to command
the support of an influential party and of the king himself during the
greater part of his ministry ; Jeremiah, on the other hand, always
gives the impression of one who stands alone^ and though he probably
had the support of Josiali, yet after the decease of that monarch he
had to undergo the opposition of the successive rulers of the nation
or at best their languid patronage. The death of Josiah and the
failure of the reformation which he had attempted made the work of
the prophet exceedingly hard, as these events seemed to be a Divine
judgement upon all attempts at purifying the worship of the nation
and raising its standard of life ; moreover, the tradition that Jerusalem
was God's holy seat and that He would protect it, which had been so
strikingly upheld in Isaiah's day, had hardened into a superstition,
and one which had become quite divorced from the moral and religious
context which it occupied in the teaching of that prophet himself ^

1 Cf. pp. xlix ff.

2 There was a reaction, however, a'-ainst the teaching of Isaiah, in the reign of
Manaseeh, under whom the prophet, acoording to a late tradition, was sawn
asunder.

2 It must be admitted that Jeremiah was apt to be pessimistic and Hke Elijah
to overlook the seven thousand who had not bowed the knee to Baal.

* The comparison between the prophetic careers of Isaiah and Jeremiah reveals

§ 3] THE LIFE OF JEREMIAH xxxv

'There are times,' as Dean Stanley said, 'when ancient truths become
modern falsehoods \'

(b) Jeremiah's failure, however, was largely due to his own personal
limitations. In the first place, he seems to have been unable suffi-
ciently to sympathise with those to whom he was sent, or perhaps
it would be more accurate to say that he was unable to shew his
sympathy; his attitude was too uncompromising, and his preaching
often gives the impression of one who desired to put things as bluntly
as possible, and even to shock people. Doubtless such a course was
necessary with the self-satisfied audiences whom he addressed, but he
seems at times to be needlessly harsh. Very possibly this seeming
harshness arose from his love for those whom he was compelled to
condemn, for paradoxical as it may sound, a teacher is often most
fierce, when he has to criticise those whom he most loves. Jeremiah's
love for his country was also a handicap to his preaching in another
way, in that it tended to make him seemingly inconsistent, and there-
fore hard to understand. There were ever two impulses stirring within
him, which issued sometimes in stern denunciations, sometimes in tender
appeals. After all it must be remembered that the prophet is not the
inventor of a perfect system by means of which every little detail of
life can be fitted into its appropriate place, and play its part in con-
tributing to a logical and balanced whole^. He is not one who depends
largely on the promptings of his intellect at all ; but he is above all
one who follows the guidance of the voice within and who feels deeply
the truths for which he has made his standi It therefore happened
that Jeremiah, like the other prophets, had a strong and almost
fanatical grasp of a few great principles which he did not hesitate to
apply to every obj'gct of thought or discussion, and in so doing he was
quite regardless of the effect upon other men's minds. He was essentially
deductive in his methods and not concerned with the actual facts of
the matter in hand, the principle was to be followed at all costs, the
facts must find their own place. In other words, he was according to
present-day judgements unpractical, a dreamer, and a visionary. He

an apparent paradox : Isaiah was a success as far as men could judge, Jeremiah
a failure ; yet the teaching of the former was perverted and became a stumbling-
block, the teaching of the latter became the basis of all future progress in Hebrew
religion and culminated in Christianity itself.

^ Jewish Church, ii. 441.

' Cf. pp. XXX f.

3 ' The modern reformer may study tactics and opportunities, but the great
prophets of old on great occasions follow without questioning the admonition of
an inner voice.' Canon Streeter, Foundations, p. 123.

xxxvi INTRODUCTION [| 3

was lacking in that sense of statesmanship which enabled Isaiah to
seize and use his opportunities, and he does not seem to have had the
same sure touch in dealing with practical problems. In this respect there
are many parallels to be drawn between him and the gentle saint of
Assisi, for St Francis too was quite unable to cope with problems of
government and practical politics \

Jeremiah, in spite of the fact that many of his proposed reforms
must have seemed utterly radical to his fellow-countrymen, was in
reality a conservative ; his great object was to bring back the purer
conditions of that past upon which his heart so frequently meditated^.
But he was not able to sway men's minds and to make them sharers in
the same vision ; his influence, however, survived his lifetime, and the
ideals which then seemed impossible have not in later times been
without their measure of realisation ; and, moreover, it is in them that
the hope of the future lies^ Jeremiah failed, not because like the
Stoic, he 'revealed a disease and palsy of human nature which he
could not cure'*,' but because he was unable to make the patient
realise the seriousness of his state, or to get him to adopt the only
possible way of health and safety. But it must not be forgotten that
the prophet was chosen by God for his task, and, as will be seen later,
his apparent failure brought about the teaching of the New Covenant.
The Almighty, if He had so wished, could have forged an instrument
which would have saved Judah as a nation. He chose one rather which
made possible Judah as a church.

§ 4. The Chaeacter of Jeremiah

God's revelation through a prophet has always to be mediated by
means of the prophet's personality^ If God makes use of a messenger,
that messenger is bound to influence the form in which the message is
delivered. The message which was entrusted to the various prophets
came to them in various ways but almost always by means of the
incidents of their ordinary occupations or by the events of contem-

1 Of. Father Cuthbert, Life of St Francis of Assisi, pp. 270 f.

2 Cf. ii. 1, vi. 16 ff., XXXV. Iff. with notes.

' For the influence of Jeremiah's teaching see pp. Ixxxiii ff.

* The Bishop of Winchester in Lux Mundi '^, p. 106.

5 Cf. Dean Stanley, The Jeivish Church, i. p. 94, ' In grace, as in nature, God,
if we may use the well-known expression, abhorret saltum, abhors a sudden un-
prepared transition. "The child is father of the man" : the man is father of the
prophet.'

I 4] THE CHARACTER OF JEREMIAH xxxvii

porary history. They realised God's voice speaking to them through
their surroundings ; then they declared His will to the people amongst
whom they dwelt. In the case of Jeremiah, as of Hosea with whom he
has remarkable similarities of teaching, the experience of his own life
led the prophet to a conception of God such as had been reached
by none before him. This being so, a short sketch of the prophet's
character and its development is a necessary preliminary to the study
of his teaching, as well as being a fitting sequel to the narrative of this
life.

The character of a living person can be estimated and described
after some acquaintance with him and after some enquiry amongst his
familiars ; but even liere a certain amount of difficulty arises because
every man, even the most simple, leads to some extent a dual existence ;
there is the outward life known to his acquaintances, and the inward
life known only to himself. In estimating the character of Jeremiah
both classes of evidence are fortunately available; as was seen above
(pp. xiv f.) the book which bears his name, though much of it is the
record of others, contains passages of priceless value as being sincere
and unreserved revelations of the prophet's secret soul in its highest
relations \ This help to the understanding of Jeremiah's character is
all the more valuable as that character is one of much complexity and
its outward seeming must often have deceived his contemporaries ; few,
if any, imagined that beneath 'the pillar of iron and brass' there beat
the nervous and hesitating heart of one who confessed that he was but
'a child.' The prophet's inner life might be pictured as some lonely
mountain tarn, sometimes visited by fierce winds, sometimes smiled
upon by the sun and the tender myriads of the stars, but always upborne
by the might of the everlasting hills. Jeremiah, like every other true
prophet, was the human agent of a Pivine master, and the weakness of
the agent was ever shrinking back from the compelling power of the
Master-. Deeply sensitive and tender hearted, he was at the same time
intrepidly brave ; liable to fits of deep emotion, he had a piercing judge-
ment and was also capable of great endurance. His judgement and
knowledge had not been formed like those of Elijah or Amos in the

1 Fortunately there is little question of the genuineness of all the most im-
portant autobiographical passages which throw so much light on the prophet's
character and teaching. There is one exception to this — and it is a great exception
— that is the question of the New Covenant (see Additional Note, pp. 241 S.).

^ Bishop Gore contrasts ' the life of divinely given authority in insight and
foresight, based upon the divine word communicated and the vision of God vouch-
safed: and side by side with it, the life of intense personal trial and dismay.'
Bampton Lectures'-, p. 155.

xxxviii INTRODUCTION [§ 4

loneliness of the desert, but he was a townsman and familiar from
childhood with the scene of his future ministry\ At the same time his
affectionate and sympathetic nature enabled him to enter into the
feelings even of those whom he condemned, little though they might
realise it, and so he never really seems to be detached from them as
was Amos or Ezekiel ; on the contrary he uttered his condemnations
with an aching and broken heart.

Such was the character of Jeremiah in general terms, but a more
detailed treatment is necessary in regard to certain outstanding traits.
(«) His timidity. As was seen above the book of Jeremiah contains
a number of self-revelations by the prophet which shew that the outward
sternness of his life only concealed an inward conflict. These records
of his physical cowardice and shrinking make Jeremiah a figure much
more human and like unto the ordinary Christian of to-day; and those
who share in his weakness have the consolation of knowing that they
can also learn the secret of his strength. There are not many men who
are heroes by nature, but there are fewer still who may not become
heroes by grace". The call of Jeremiah is the first event narrated in the
book which bears his name and it is a record of the spirit in which the
prophet carried out his whole life-work. Great self-distrust and inward
fear overcome by the power of God are the marks of Jeremiah's ministry.
He did not like Isaiah^ volunteer to go on God's errand, but like Moses*
he shrank back from it. God gave him power by touching his lips, and
then commanded him to speak out all the words which had been given
him, otherwise his cowardice would be openly shewn in the sight of his
enemies ^ There can have been few men in the history of the world
who have undertaken tasks less congenial to them than did Jeremiah
when he became the prophet of Jehovah ; the weakness of his nature
made his life one long perpetual struggle, he cursed the day on which
he was born and even rose to the height of blaming God Himself. His
timid spirit and the extremity of suffering which he had to undergo
drove him almost to madness; hence his strange boldness towards God.
He felt that it was for His sake that he had borne reproach, and that
God, as it were, had forced him against his own will to undertake the
life of pain which oppressed him and at times threatened to overwhelm
him". Tliese strange outbursts are the strongest possible evidence of

1 Duhm's theory that Jeremiah had not visited Jerusalem before the incidents
described in v. 1 ff. can hardly be correct, see the introd. to that chapter.
^ Cf. Cheyne, Life and Times, p. 36.
3 Is. vi. 8. ■ ^Ex. iv. Iff. «i. 6ff.,17.

« XV. 15—18. XX. 7—12.

/

§ 4] THE CHARACTER OF JEREMIAH xxxix

the desperate state to which the prophet had been reduced, a state of
despair such as comes to 'many a lofty soul which feels itself misunder-
stood by men, which can hardly believe that it is not deserted by God\'

(b) His power of endurance. Jeremiah then was timid and awarfe
of the horrors and difficulties of his heavy task; and the more one
studies his life, the greater becomes one's wonder that he was able to
endure at all. For the most considerable part of his ministry he had
to stand practically alone; he had no enthusiastic body of followers
who might on the one hand have supported him in his policy and urged
him on to fresh efforts, and at the same time concealed from him the
strength and ruthlessness of those by whom he was opposed. But as
Dr Payne Smith has said : ' Naturally despondent and self-distrustful, /
there was no feebleness in his character ; and he possessed a far higher
quality than physical courage in his power of patient endurance".' All
Jeremiah's powers of patient endurance were needed as his ministry
proceeded and as he became more and more convinced that Judah
would not give heed to his message. The secret of his courage and
endurance was to be found in the God who had called him to His service
and whose promise of continual help never failed him. At the same
time the Divine power acted as a compelling as well as a helping force.
The prophet was decidedly not one of those who from the desire for
publicity or fame preach startling sermons, and his shrinking and retiring
nature needed the stimulus of God's awful compulsion before the pro-
clamation of his message was possible. Newman's description of the
steadfastness of the Christian might well be applied to Jeremiah. ' The
foundations of the ocean' he says, 'the vast realms of water which girdle
the earth, are as tranquil and as silent in the storm as in the calm. So
it is with the souls of holy men. They have a well of peace springing
up within them unfathomable; and though the accidents of the hour
may make them seem agitated, yet in their hearts they are not so^.'

(c) His sensitiveness. Jeremiah has come down to later ages as the
'weeping prophet,' mainly it may be supposed because the book of
Lamentations was traditionally attributed to him, and his name has

1 Stanley, The Jewish Church, ii. 454.

2 In the Speaker's Commentary on i. 17.

3 Parochial and Plain Sermons, v. p. 69 ; cf. also John Keble's lines in his poem
for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity in The Christian Year :

' Watching in trance nor dark nor clear,
Th'appalling Future as it nearer draws :

His spirit calmed the storm to meet,

Feeling the rock beneath his feet
And tracing through the cloud the eternal Cause.'

xl INTRODUCTION [§ 4

been turned into a byword for pessimistic denunciations. But Jere-
miah's denunciations were no more severe than those of the other
prophets, his outlook on the future no darker. Why then was it that
he above all other prophets should be chosen out to bear the term of
reproach? It is almost undoubtedly for two reasons amongst others,
(i) The soul of Jeremiah, with the possible exception of Hosea, was
more sensitive than that of the others. He was not one who heard the
deep sighing of the poor and left it unheeded, rather was he one of
that noble but suffering band

' to whom tlie miseries of the world
Are misery, and will not let them rest.'

It is true that to him as to them all there came times when (to continue
the quotation) he did desire to 'find a haven,' not indeed 'in the world'
but rather from it. This longing, due to natural reaction in one of a
highly strung and sensitive nature, is evidence of the extremity of his
suffering rather than of his desire to avoid responsibility, and was soon
put aside and no doubt repented of with tears, (ii) Just as Jeremiah /
felt the miseries of the individual Israelites so he felt the horrors of t\ie\J
fate which was coming upon the nation at large. His naturally affec-
tionate disposition, cut off from the love of wife or child, poured itself
out in overflowing measure upon his country. Isaiah or Ezekiel could
utter the most scathing condemnations of Israel or Judah, could forecast
for t^em the most desperate fortunes and apparently remain unaffected
themselves ; but such was not the case with Jeremiah, he was no mere
'looker on of this world's stage' and the sorrows of the nation were as
his 'own, its hopeless and pitiable fate moved him till as he himself
said his eyes became 'fountains of water.' The horrors which were
coming seemed to fascinate him, he could not take his mind from them,
and so it is that he seems almost to delight in dwelling on scenes of
destruction and in picturing God's thirst for vengeance slaking itself in
the most awful carnage \ Jeremiah's life as a prophet was constantly
darkened by the character of the message which he had to deliver; and /
like a judge compelled to sentence his only child, his soul shrank in*'
dread from the words of condemnation which his lips were bidden to
utter. What made the position harder for the prophet was the know-
ledge that by warning the people of the coming of judgement he was
making more certain their ultimate punishment, for it has been proved
time and again that 'the judgements of God, public or personal, though

1 Cf. xii. 12, XXV. 30—33, xlvi. 10, 1. 25—29.

§ 4] THE CHARACTER OF JEREMIAH xli

they ought' as Coleridge says 'to drive us to God, yet the heart, un-
changed, runs the further from God\' Again and again he even ventures
to expostulate with God Himself on behalf of the people, sometimes with
a boldness which is surprising, verging as it does on irreverence. This
attitude of mind is brought out more clearly still by a comparison with
Jeremiah's younger contemporary Ezekiel, whose message had so many
points in common with his own. Ezekiel had no mental conflict, all was
clear to him, nay he ever delighted to carry the Divine message even if
it involved the destruction of his native land. Ezekiel is always on the
Lord's side, and sees nothing but the sin and wickedness which have
called forth the Divine anger ; there is indeed something grim and stern
about his attitude which is in strong contrast to the tender yearning
of the earlier prophet, who often dares to take the part of his people
even against their rightful Lord and to defend and excuse them (of.
xiv. 13, &c.).

Jeremiah loved Jerusalem and all that it stood for 'as an Athenian
loved the city of the violet crown, as a Roman loved the city of the
seven hills,' and it was this wonderful love that enabled him to pierce
below the surface of the national life and to discern the evil which was
slowly sapping its strength. He alone of all those who took in hand the
cure of the unhappy country could heal its malady because he alone
had sufficient insight to diagnose the disease from which it suffered.
The politician and the religionist cried 'Peace, peace' when there was
no peace, trying to soothe with soft words the patient whose ills they
had never investigated ; but Jeremiah's purpose went far deeper, he was
determined, in Bacon's words, 'to search the wounds of the country,
not to skim them over'; and whilst they poured in the oil of the
physician, he constantly declared that the only hope of salvation lay
in the surgeon's knife. But in all truth he had a hopeless and dis-
tressing task and his experience might well be described in words which
were written of another. 'It is difficult to conceive any situation more
painful than that of a great man, condemned to watch the lingering
agony of an exhausted country, to tend it during the alternate fits of
stupefaction and raving which precede its dissolution, and to see the
symptoms of vitality disappear one by one, till nothing is left but
coldness, darkness and corruption ^' Jeremiah remained constant in
his love in spite of the apostasy of the nation, in spite of the sufferings

^ Aids to Reflection, xcvn.

^ Macaulay, Essay on Machiavelli. This same quotation has been applied to
Jeremiah quite independently by Dr Streane.

/

xlii INTRODUCTION . [§ 4

which he endured at the hands of its rulers. He knew that the political
future was dark and so he counselled submission and thus brought
upon himself the hatred of his fellow-countrymen, and at the end when
the rulers and the nobles had gone into exile he still clung to the
broken remnant left in the land.

(d) His desire for sympathy. One point which must strike every
student of the life and writings of the prophet is his great loneliness. J
It is as though throughout his whole life he was lavishing his affection
upon objects from which he vainly expected some return. Cut off
from his countrymen as Jeremiah was by the message of condemnation
which he had to deliver, and hated by his brethren, one might have
thought that he would have been allowed to find a natural solace in
the love of a wife and children. The whole nature of the prophet
seemed to demand such a consolation, for Jeremiah was no ascetic and
hater of pleasure, and he took a gladsome delight in the young life
growing up around him ; the first picture which comes to his mind when
he tries to imagine the approaching ruin is of the fate of the innocent
children playing in the streets \ But these natural instincts and desires
were not to be fulfilled, marriage was denied to him^ and the prophet
knew in his heart tliat his life must be dedicated to the delivery of his
message. Jeremiah was unique amongst the prophets in this respect,
so far as we know, though Hosea was unfortunate in his married life^
and Ezekiel was forbidden to mourn for the loss of a dearly loved wife,
'the desire of his eyes' as he called her, who was suddenly snatched
from him^ As was seen above, the affection which Jeremiah poured out
upon his nation was turned back into his own bosom and his efforts on
its behalf entirely misunderstood; some few indeed of his countrymen
seem to have given him a tardy sympathy and an effective protection,
and one at least was not afraid to stand by his side and even to represent
him at the peril of his life ; but on the whole Jeremiah received more
favour and consideration from the enemies of his people than from the
people themselves. Yet the prophet longed for the love of his fellows,
and the fact that they misinterpreted his motives and suspected his
teaching was a great grief to him. It was probably in order to gain the
ear of the nation and to make an apologia pro vita sua that Jeremiah
made public those intimate experiences between his soul and God which
are of such inestimable value to later generations. The prophet was

1 vi. 11 and ix. 20 (see Cornill's note on the former passage).

2 xvi. If. where see notes.

* Hos. i. — iii. * Ez. xxiv. 1.5 — 24.

§ 4] THE CHARACTER OF JEREMIAH xliii

reticent by nature, such at least is the conchision suggested by the
account of his call, where no attempt is made to describe the appearance
of the Almighty, or the phenomena which accompanied and heralded
His approach, though at the same time the prophet does not hesitate
to claim that it was no seraph who touched his lips but Jehovah
Himself^ It seems therefore that these passages, unique as they are
in prophetic literature, are the outstretchings of a deeply wronged and
suffering man towards those who have done him hurt, but whom he
still loves and longs to save. In their eyes he had shewn himself to be
harsh, unfeeling, and one whose denunciations of his country reached
the point of barely concealed treachery. By his self-revelation the
prophet wished to let the people see the other side of the picture, he
wished them to know of all his vain longings and pleadings on their
behalf and to realise something of the sufferings which were inflicted
upon him by the fate of his beloved land. This motive seems alone
sufficient to account for the laying bare of Jeremiah's soul.

Jeremiah has been likened to many personages in history, generally
in regard to the bitter experience of his life. He has been likened 'to
Cassandra, the Trojan prophetess, whose fate it was never to be believed,
though prophesying nothing but the truth; to Phocion, the rival of
Demosthenes in the last generation of Athenian greatness^, who main-
tained the unpopular but sound doctrine that, if Athens were to escape
worse evils, she must submit peaceably to the growing power of Macedon ;
to Dante, whose native state, Florence, was in relation to France and
the Empire as Palestine was to Egypt and Babylon, while the poet like
the prophet could only protest without effect against the ever-growing
dangers^.' All these comparisons, as was said above, deal with the fate
of the prophet rather than with his character. It may perhaps be allow-
able to introduce another comparison regarding the latter aspect.
Readers of Miss Evelyn Underhill's 31ysticism will hardly fail to
recognise the justice of likening Jeremiah to Suso, the German mystic
of the fourteenth century. Suso was indeed the Jeremiah amongst
contemplatives, both for his sensitiveness to the hardships of his lot
and for the habit of self-analysis and self-revelation which made him
record them^ He had at the same time much of the prophet's boldness

1 i. 9 ; cf. Is. vi. 1—7 ; and Ez. i. — iii.

2 This comparison was first made, I believe, by Bunsen, Gott in der Geschichte,
p. 144.

^ Dr Streane in Camb. Bible, p. xxxii.

* Cf . p. 488, ' There is no grim endurance about Suso : he feels every hard
knock, and all the instincts of his nature are in favour of telling his griefs.'

£. d

xliv INTRODUCTION [§ 4

and endurance in facing the difficulties of his position and the enmity
of his friends. Nor was he lacking in the insight which made him see
in the casual incidents of everyday life symbols of his own life in relation
to Gk)d^

§ 5. The Teaching of Jeremiah

i. His conception of God

The teaching of Jeremiah, as of the other prophets, was based
ultimately on his conception of Jehovah. The religious teachers of
Israel as was said above were deductive in their methods, in other
words they began by accepting the truth of certain great principles
regarding the Divine Nature and deduced from them their duty towards
both God and man. The deductive methods of the prophets, however,
did not apparently lessen their wonderful powers of observation and of
reflection, though inevitably they tended to make the facts of life and
thought which they discovered conform to their preconceived ideas.
Jeremiah, like his forerunners, assumed the existence of the God whom
he worshipped and whose will he declared. To a Semite the atheism
which follows on reflection was unknown, every Semite believed in God
and paid Him the dues of worship and sacrifice, though this belief in
God might be accompanied by that more terrible form of atheism, which
leaves God out of all account in the practical life of the individual and
nation alike. Such a conception of God as this was naturally based on
a much narrower review of the facts of life than the similar conceptions
of modern teachers. It was a conception of God which was fundament-
ally and entirely religious, and one which owed nothing either to
natural science on the one side or to philosophy on the other.

(a) Jehovah is a living God. The book of Jeremiah then contains
no apologetic, no 'proofs' of the existence of God; He is there, as real
to the prophet as the nation itself, as real as his own soul. This absence
of apologetic, which seems so remarkable to a western mind, is accom-
panied by the omission of any systematic statements regarding the
Divine Nature. For whilst it may be confidently asserted that the
conception of the character of Jehovah which each prophet held was
the basis of his teaching, yet, paradoxical as it may sound, what that
conception was in each case can only be gathered from incidental
allusions. The mark of the pre-exilic Hebrew writings was life rather

1 Of. his conversation with the knight, op. cit. pp. 488 f.

§ 5] THE TEACHING OF JEREMIAH xly

than thought; the writers had known Jehovah and felt His influence
in their souls ; they had not yet been able to find for such knowledge
a systematic and ordered expression, nay they had hardly felt the need
for it. Life comes before thought in the spiritual, as in the natural
world, and experience must ever be the forerunner of reflection; as
Aubrey Moore has well put it, 'Keligion in its earliest stages is in-
stinctive not reasoned \' Jeremiah's own conception of God was derived
from the teaching of the older prophets, as that teaching was current
in Judah, and as it was interpreted by his own intense spiritual ex-
periences, experiences which whilst they interpreted the older ideas at
the same time modified them.

The predominant mark of the prophetic conception of God was as
we have seen its unswerving grasp of His reality, that belief in a living
God which must be the basis of any true religion. The period during
which Jeremiah was called upon to exercise his ministry was one which
demanded reality in religion as in everything else, for he lived in a
time of crisis. There is a sense in which it is true to say that every
moment marks a crisis, inasmuch as every moment is the meeting place
of the whole of the past and the departing point of all the future, it is
the daughter of the ages, and the mother of the years that are yet to
be. But in Jeremiah's days the sense of crisis, of a time of testing, was
something more insistent than this; hence the demand for reality.

(6) Jehovah is the only God. It is not quite clear whether Jere-
miah looked upon Jehovah as the sole God of the universe, the majority
of his contemporaries certainly did not, but he was at any rate a
practical monotheist, and in his eyes the gods of the heathen when
compared with Jehovah were but nothingness (iv, 1, vii. 30) and vanity
(xiv. 22, xvi. 19 ff., xviii. 15)^ the work of men's hands (ii. 27 f.,
xvi. 19 ff.), and as such entirely subordinate to the God of Israel (ii. 11 ;
cf. Dt. iv. 19 f.). Jeremiah's monotheism is further shewn by his
unquestioning belief that it was not Israel alone which was under the

1 Lux Mundi'^^, p. 48 ; cf. the quotation from Newman in the same essay, p. 64:
' As the intellect is cultivated and expanded, it cannot refrain from the attempt to
analyse the vision which influences the heart, and the object in which it centres ;
nor does it stop till it has, in some sort, succeeded in expressing in words, what
has all along been a principle both of the affections and of practical obedience.'
Avians, ch. ii. § 1. See also W. Temple, The Faith and Modern Thought, pp. 43 f . :
' it is possible that the man who has the most vital communion with God will be
least able to make a scientific theory of that experience. I suppose that Shakespeare
knew very much less about the method on which he constructed his plays than
either Coleridge or Professor Bradley.'

2 This view may be compared with the idea current in early Christian literature
that they were demons.

d2

xlvi INTRODUCTION [| 5

control of Jehovah, but that His rule extended over other nations as
well (xviii. 7 fF., xxvii. 7, xxviii. 14). The prophet though he recog-
nised Jehovah's power over the heathen, still felt that there was a
relationship of an especial character between Him and Judah. This
can clearly be gathered from the titles by which God is addressed, titles
such as 'the Hope of Israel' (xiv. 8, xvii. 13), 'the Saviour thereof
(xiv. 8), He who is in the midst of His people (xiv. 9), as well as by the
more usual title 'Jehovah, the God of Israel.'

(c) The attributes of God. It will be convenient to arrange these
under two heads, those which may be called the physical and those
which may be called the moral attributes of God.

(a) The physical att^-ibutes. In the prophet's eyes Jehovah is the
creator of the universe (xxvii. 5, xxxi, 37), highly exalted (xvii. 12),
and omnipotent (xviii. 6, xxxii. 26 f.). It is He also who sustains the
world, ruling it by His ordinances (xxxi. 35), and keeping the various
parts of the natural creation in due subordination to the whole, and
even though

' The ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam
To be exalted with the threatening clouds '

it cannot overpass its lawful bounds (v. 22). God who restrains the
sea, also controls the waters above the firmament and at His will can
bring rain upon the earth (v. 24), thus meeting what was one of the
great tests of Divine power in the ancient world (xiv. 22). Although
Jeremiah makes use of anthropomorphic expressions, he is very careful,
as are most of the prophets, to avoid the use of those cruder forms of
expression such as are found in the Pentateuch, expressions by which
Jehovah is represented as delighting in the smell of sacrifices (Gen. viii.
21 ; cf. Ps. li. 16); and as needing to descend to earth in order to become
acquainted with the doings of men (Gen. xi. 5). Jehovah, to Jeremiah,
is one who knows all the thoughts of men and is the searcher out of
the reins and the heart (xvii. 10, xx. 12, xxiii. 24). It is true that in
one passage weariness is ascribed to the Deity (xv. 6), but the use is
obviously metaphorical. The prophetic conception of the physical attri-
butes of God was not without its weakness, in that it laid undue stress
on His transcendence and power. As the present Dean of St Paul's has
well said, ' There is not necessarily anything divine about omnipotence^'
Even in Jeremiah's doctrine of the New Covenant God is still transcend-

1 Contentio Veritatis, p. 100 ; the passage continues, ' It is conceivable that the
universe might have been ruled by an omnipotent devil ; in which case men would
have been found to defy him, and to go to his hell coerced, but unsubdued.'

§ 5] THE TEACHING OF JEREMIAH ilvii

ent, He is outside and above mankind, and it is the covenant which is
to be written in their hearts, not God who is to make them His abode
(cf. the teaching of NT.: Eph, iii. 17, &c.). The stress on the tran-
scendence of God which was so strongly marked in Hebrew religion
was not, however, without its good side, for it taught men to reverence
God, and as a result 'their religion, alone among the primitive religions
of the world, remained free from degrading myths and untainted by
any association with sensuality\'

(/3) The moral attributes. Any conception of God which lays too
much stress on the physical attributes of the Deity tends either to
over-emphasise His power and transcendence, as did the Hebrew ;
or going to the other extreme, to bring Him down to the level of
His worshippers, whom He then exceeds only by the greater licence
of His passions, and the more abundant means which He possesses
of gratifying them. Such was the conception of the Divine Nature
held by the popular religion of the Greeks, hence its utter failure
to secure the allegiance of the better minds amongst them and its
eventual displacement by various systems of philosophy; systems
which, during the period of highest development, more and more
tended to ignore metaphysics altogether and to find all their interest
in the sphere of ethics. Amongst the Hebrews, however, religion
and morality were ever closely allied, and in the prophets this alliance
becomes almost a unity, religion is morality, at any rate as regards
the duty of man to man; 'He hath shewed thee, 0 man, what is
good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justl/, and
to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God"?' Jehovah was
Himself a righteous God and above all things He required in those
who worshipped Him the same love of justice and righteous dealing
(ix. 24). The righteousness of God was also shewn by His sternness
towards sin and those who persisted in it, against such the Divine
wrath went forth like the sudden blast of a trumpet (xxiii. 19 ff.),
and even the natural world (iv. 26) and the very beasts of the field
were shaken by it (vii. 20). There is something almost unloving
about Jeremiah's conception of God, something which suggests only
the twilight of revelation, and which has hardly approached the truer
conception of God as the loving Father who sent His Son to die for

^ Inge, op. cit. p. 66. The last part of this statement is true only of the highest
type of Hebrew religion, the prophets were constantly denouncing the immoral
practices associated with the popular worship (see pp. xlix f. below).

2 Mic. vi. 8.

xlviii INTRODUCTION [§ 5

the world Even in his own relations with the Almighty, Jeremiah
often seems to regard Him as a stern taskmaster (xx. 7 ff. &c.). There
is, however, another aspect of his teaching, and he holds out to those
who are penitent and desirous of returning from their sinful ways the
loving-kindness and mercy of the Lord (iii. 12, ix. 24, xxxi. 20). At
the same time one cannot help feeling that the repeated acts of apostasy
of which many individual Hebrews were guilty at this time came not
only from the doubt of Jehovah's power (xliv. 18; Ez. viii. 12), but also
from unwillingness to comply with the conditions necessary for worship-
ping Him. The teaching of the prophets made men begin to realise
that Jehovah could only be approached by those who had 'clean hands
and a pure heart'; but other deities, so the people thought, might
possess equal power and be less particular as to the morals of those
who came to them as suppliants. Such action on the part of the
people is no condemnation of the prophetic teaching for the stress
which it laid on morality, but morality in itself is not attractive, and
the phrases so often on the lips of Jeremiah 'to provoke Jehovah to
anger' (vii. 19), 'the wrath of Jehovah' (xviii. 20, &c.), may have
made his countrymen afraid of their God. The idea of God's wrath,
though a very necessary complement to the idea of His love, is liable
to misinterpretation and when emphasised in the present day often
originates in our own blinded and wrathful hearts^. The Lady Julian
of Norwich, speaking of a vision of God which came to her, says, ' I saw
no wrath but on man's part; and that forgiveth He in us. For wrath
is nought else but a frowardness and contrariness to peace and love;
and either it cometh of failing of might, or of failing of wisdom, or of
failing of goodness, which failing is not in God but on our part^'

(d) Summary. Such was the conception of God which formed the
basis of Jeremiah's teaching: Jehovah was high and lifted up, the
creator and sustainer of the universe, yet not ignoring His people, and
above everything else He was a just and holy being demanding justice
and holiness in those who professed to serve Him. This conception
Jeremiah owed in its main outlines to the teaching of the older pro-
phets. There are, however, certain points in the rest of Jeremiah's
teaching which are in an especial manner his own, and which form his

^ It is not intended to suggest that Jeremiah's conception of God was harsher
than that of the other OT. prophets.

"^ It should be remembered that to the Hebrews every disaster was directly due
to the Divine action ; of. pp. 10 ff.

^ Quoted by Inge, Studies in the English Mystics, p. 67.

§ 5] THE TEACHING OF JEREMIAH xlix

contribution to the ever-growing revelation of God. These points must
be dealt with at much greater length. Before going ou to deal with
them, however, and indeed as an introduction to them it will perhaps
be not unprofitable briefly to summarise the condition of popular religion
during the period covered by the prophet's ministry.

ii. The religious condition. of the Nation ^

By the time of Jeremiah the pure worship of Jehovah, which the
Israelites had brought from the desert (ii, 2 f. &c.), had ceased to
exist amongst the nation at large, although it was still preserved
amongst communities like the Rechabites^ When the primitive Israel-
ites invaded Palestine, and began to settle down in the land, they were
compelled to exchange the simple life of the nomad for the more com-
plicated existence of the agriculturist, and no doubt they had to
depend for their knowledge of the new arts upon their conquered neigh-
bours, the Canaanites. With the arts of agriculture, and as a most
important part of them, would go the cult of the local Baal, the patron
from immemorial antiquity of each several tract of land. The new
conditions of life required new habits of worship". As a result many
degrading customs and many horrible superstitions were incorporated
into the religion of Jehovah; for it must not be forgotten that ancient
religions, at any rate in their popular forms, were essentially eclectic,
and that the common people in worshipping the Baalim were conscious
of no disloyalty to the God of Israel (ii. 23, ix. 14, xi. 13, xix. 5).
This habit of mind is invariably the mark of periods of transition from
one religion to another, and such periods are often indefinitely pro-
longed. Christianity itself has borrowed largely from outside sources
in developing its forms of worship and even its doctrinal statements.
In this connexion the account of the Goths preserved in Gregory of Tours,
Hist. Franc, v. 44 is not without interest: 'We do not reckon it a crime
to worship this or that ; for we say in our common speech, it is no harm

^ See XXXV. 1 ff. with notes.

2 Cf. A. C. Turner in Concerning Prayer, p. 376. ' Jehovah was a great God
of War, and had driven the gods of Canaan before him ; but, once in, it was not
BO certain that he could ensure the kindly fruits of the earth in due season.
Agriculture was not in his line. Would it not be as well to make doubly sure by
setting up a high place to the local Baal who had tended the ground from all time?'
In a similar way when the Aryan peoples invaded India they borrowed many
superstitions and beliefs from the aborigines, and these found expression both in
their religious life and also in their literature. See Poussin, The Way of Nirvana,
pp. 16fl. ^

\

I INTRODUCTION [§ 5

if a man passing between heathen altars and a church of God makes
his reverence in both directions\'

The worship of the Canaanite Baalim and of Jehovah under
conceptions which were practically identical, as well as of the female
counterparts of the Baalim, the goddesses of fecundity, was accom-
panied by a variety of sexual crimes which the better feeling of a later
age has striven to conceal, but which must have accounted in no small
measure for the unswerving opposition of the prophets and of the higher
minds of the community to the manner in which the local sanctuaries
were conducted, and which in the end led to their suppression (see
pp. xxi f ). Traces of these practices can be found in the statements in
1 K. xiv. 24; 2 K/ xxiii. 7; and in the law in Dt. xxiii. 17 f^ When
Jeremiah spoke of Judah as 'playing the harlot' and as 'committing
adultery' his words had a literal as well as a metaphorical truth behind
them. In addition to these abuses which were of long standing, other
more recent superstitions had been introduced by Manasseh. These
superstitions owed their introduction to the much closer contact between
Judah and the great nations of the East which was then beginning.
In addition to the condemnation of the worship of the Baalim (vii. 9,
ix. 14, &c.; Zeph. i. 4), of stocks and stones (ii. 27, xxv. 6), and of
other gods (i. 16, iii. 9, &c.), condemnations such as had been frequent
in the earlier prophets, there are to be found in Jeremiah and his con-
temporaries notices of the adoration of the heavenly bodies (v. 18, viii. 2,
xix. 13; Zeph. i. 5), especially of the Queen of Heaven (xliv. 15 ff.), of
devotions to Tammuz (Ez. viii. 14) and other nameless superstitions
(Ez. viii. 10 ff.), as well as of the spread of the custom of infant sacri-
fice (vii. 31, xix. 5) and of 'making children pass through the fire to
Molech' (xxxii. 35; Ez. xvi. 21, xx. 26, 31; cf also Zeph. i. 5). In
all these habits and customs of worship, habits and customs which
made the prophet refer to his contemporaries as 'the generation of God's
wrath' (vii. 29), the people were encouraged by the example of those
who were their rulers in both the religious and the political sphere
(xxiii. 2, 15 f). Under circumstances such as these the backsliding of
the people was continuous (viii. 4), and even the striking and tragic
fate of the Northern Kingdom had failed utterly to be a warning to them
(iii. 6 ff.); on the contrary, so blinded were the men of Judah to their

^ Quoted by Gore, Bampton Lectures^, p. 92.

2 The word which is translated sodomite in EW. is literally 'sacred person,'
that is to say one consecrated to the service of the deity; see Driver's note on
Dt. xxiii. 17 ; Frazer, Adonis, &c. i. 17, 57 S.

§ 5] THE TEACHING OF JEREMIAH li

true condition, that the fact that they had escaped when Samaria was
overthrown was to them a pledge and token of the favour with which
Jehovah regarded them\

iii. The New Covenant

Early in his ministry 'in the days of Josiah' (iii. 6), Jeremiah looked
forward to a time when Israel would have shepherds after Jehovah's
own heart who would give the people knowledge of their God. This
conception of religion as communion with Him 'in knowledge of whom
standeth our eternal life ' became deeper and ever deeper in the prophet's
mind during the course of his life, in spite of the bitter experience in
which every fresh insight into the state of the nation involved him.
That religion as he understood it was ever to become the possession of
the nation as a whole seemed to him something impossible ; those who
were accustomed to do evil could no more do good than the Ethiopian
could change his skin, the leopard his spots (xiii. 23). God had indeed
revealed Himself to the fathers of the race, and at Sinai had entered
into a covenant with them, but how were they to keep their side of the
covenant ? How could man know and do the will of God ? The prophet
had to go through that agony of perplexity and despair which has been
the lot of so many and which has been described for all time by St Paul
in Rom. vii. 15 ff. At last he saw the solution, not as the apostle saw
it, or as we may see it with a full experience of the power of the risen
and ascended Christ, but as something ' dimly and faintly hidden and
afar.' Man can only keep God's law by its being written in his under-

^ Some scholars have seen in Israel's readiness to submit to foreign influence
both in the way of thought and of institutions a mark of the vitality of the nation
and one of the causes of its true greatness. Professor W. E. Harper, for example,
says ' A striking characteristic of Israel, in comparison with its sister nations, was
a readiness to receive, from the outside, contributions in the form of new institutions
and new thought. Much of this was bad and in time was lost ; but much of it,
being good, was retained. The gradual accumulation and assimilation of this
outside material, under the guidance of an all-wise Providence, ultimately lifted
Israel to a position of influence in world-history.' Amos and Hosea (ICC), p. xxxi
note. Whilst one rejoices to recognise with Newman that 'He who had taken the
seed of Jacob for His elect people had not therefore cast the rest of mankind out
of His sight ' and that 'The Greek poets and sages were in a certain sense prophets,'
and whilst one hesitates to criticise so high an authority as Dr Harper, yet this and
similar statements seem to the present writer to contain a two-fold exaggeration,
in that they exaggerate on the one hand the extent of the outside influences which
entered into the life of Israel — especially in compai'ison with other nations — and
on the other they attribute to such influences greater benefits than were actually
obtained from them. The influences above all others which made Israel great were
its own native influences.

lii INTRODUCTION [| 5

standing and by his having such a knowledge of the Divine as will keep
him in constant communion with his heavenly Father.

But it was not the consideration of the nation's failure to keep the
covenant of Sinai that alone led Jeremiah to his discovery; the circum-
stances of his own life had already forced him to realise the necessity
for communion between God and man. To the early Semites men were
part of a nation and as such had a relation to the God of the tribe or
race ; any other ground of acceptance had hardly been thought of. The
prophets of Israel, almost from the first, realised the limitations of this
theory of man's relation to God, but it required the lapse of many
generations before the clear doctrine of the possibility of communion
between each individual soul and God was plainly taught by Jeremiah
and Ezekiel. The idea was not, however, entirely new for, as Jowett
pointed out, in the answer to Elijah 'yet have I seven thousand who
have not bowed the knee to Baal,' there is an indication of a 'change
in God's mode of dealing with His people... the whole people were not
regarded as one ; there were a few who still preserved amidst the general
corruption, the worship of the true God\' These scattered hints and
vague anticipations of the doctrine of God's dealings with individuals
first found open and clear expression in the teaching of Jeremiah. The
experiences of the prophet's life were such as to drive him back, as it
were, on God at every point— the deep affectionateness of his nature
which seemed for ever doomed to be thwarted in its efforts to find any
human outlet; the isolation in which his mission involved him; the
weakness and infirmity of his 'flesh' which needed constant renewals
of the Divine refreshment; the harsh treatment at the hands of the
beloved nation, the only earthly object his affections ever really found
upon which to lavish themselves ; all these experiences tended to force
the prophet back upon God Himself, recognised as to be known and
loved as a person, and as the only satisfying object of the prophet's
love. In view of his own knowledge Jeremiah was enabled to grasp the
fact that all men needed a God and that all might know Him ; hence
the doctrine of the New Covenant and his realisation of the true nature
of religion, or rather of its necessary basis, the personal knowledge of
God by the individual. The failure of Josiah's reformation shewed him
unmistakably that something more than a mere external law was needed
to make men obey God, and in this as in his teaching on circumcision,
he anticipated St Paul. If Josiah's efforts with all the influences behind

1 The Epistles of St Paul, ii. 148 f.

§ 5] THE TEACHING OF JEREMIAH liii

them came to nothing, was another likely to succeed where he had
failed ? Jeremiah, then, despaired of the religion of his country as he
found it; the Old Covenant must, he was convinced, give place to a
New, and a different and purer conception of religion be substituted
for the easygoing, popular worship of the temple. But though Jeremiah
in his teaching looked forward to a time when the Old Covenant would
have been superseded by the New (xxxi. 31 fif.), yet he did not deny
the Divine origin of the former, and indeed he complains that men do
not keep it (viii. 8, ix. 13, xi. 9—17). The Old Covenant had been
made with the nation as a whole, his higher conception of religion
demanded that the new spiritual relation between God and man should
be inaugurated by a personal covenant ^^ 'this is the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord;
I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write
it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people 1 and they
shall teach no more every man his brother, saying. Know the Lord ; for
they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest^' These
few verses form the crown of Jeremiah's teaching, and indeed of the
whole of the OT. and that not so much because of what they meant to
those who first received them, as because they are a summing up of all
the aspirations of the whole human race, aspirations which are in many
cases dumb and inarticulate, for the personal knowledge of a personal
God. The notable thing about the passage is the fact that there is in
it, not the promise of a new law — such a promise would have been no
novelty — but that men are to receive power to keep the provisions of |i
the law inasmuch as it will be written in their hearts. It is the glorious
claim of the gospel that in Jesus Christ this promise is fulfilled, 'I
thank God through Jesus Christ... For the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death ^.'

The doctrine of the New Covenant as set forth by Jeremiah had but
little influence on his successors, and post-exilic Judaism developed
on lines which were so different as almost to be opposed to such a
spiritual conception of religion. That this should have been so is not
so surprising as it seems at the first glance. Jeremiah was much in
advance of his times and the nation was not ripe for such teaching,

^ xxxi. 33 f. In actual fact each male Israelite was brought into covenant
relation with Jehovah in the rite of circumcision (Gen. xvii. 11), but Jeremiah's
conception was something much more spiritual.

^ Rom. vii. 25 a, viii. 2 : cf. Bishop Westcott on Heb. viii. 8, ' under this cove-
nant (i.e. the New Covenant) grace not law is the foundation of fellowship. God
comes to man as giving and not as requiring.'

Uv INTRODUCTION [§ 5

men preferred less exalted ideas of the meaning of religion and found
in the due performance of the ritual and ceremonial requirements of the
law a sufficient tax on their piety. In the present day the same difficulty
has to be faced, there is the same task of persuading men of the
wonderful privileges to which they have a right, and of applying to the
individual the powers which have been so lavishly poured out upon
the Church — the great problem is still that of awakening individual
Christians to the realisation of their privileges as members of the body
of Christ and living temples of the Holy Ghost.

Jeremiah, then, looked upon the Old Covenant of legal requirements
as ready to pass away, but, like St Paul, he would hardly have allowed
men to be free from restrictions entirely; he who had the law written
on his heart would obey it more readily than he who had to consult
some external ordinance to discover what it was. Life accor(;ling to rule
has its place under the new dispensation as well as under the old ; and
no merely emotional religion, however highly it may exalt the feelings
of him who experiences it, can be a complete substitute for a religion
which lays stress on the due performance of ethical commands. It is
indeed true that the Christian is a new creature, but discipline is
necessary none the less, so long as undue value is not attached to the
'rule of life' and so long as the source of strength is recognised to be
in God (cf. Phil. ii. 12 f.). 'There is no more certain fact,' to quote
Dean Church, 'in the range of human experience than that with strong
and earnest religious feeling there may be a feeble and imperfect hold
on the moral law, often a very loose sense of justice, truth and purity....
The kindling and absorbing earnestness which has given itself with
ardour to some high religious object is not safe, wants its only solid and
trustworthy foundation, unless it has full in view, unforgotten and
deeply reverenced, the great fixed law of moral right ruling with no
reserves over the inner and unseen life\'

iv. The punishment of the innocent

One provision of the law as laid down by his predecessors Jeremiah,
in view of his new conception of the relation of God and man, felt bound
to oppose. There existed in ancient times a widely held view that the
sins of a parent might be punished in the persons of his descendants,
such, for example, was the teaching of the Code of Hammurabi^, and of

^ The Discipline of the Christian Character, p. 41.
2 See S. A. Cook, The Laws of Moses, &c. p. 261.

§ 5] THE TEACHING OF JEREMIAH Iv

many passages of OT. (e.g. Ex. xx. 5; Josh. vii. 24 f.; 1 S. xxii. 16 f.;
2 S. xxi. 1 — 9). Nor was this idea confined to the Semitic branch
of the human family, similar pronouncements are found amongst the
Greeks. Solon, for example, expressly declares that ' if the guilty escape,
and the doom ordained by Heaven fall not upon themselves, it will
surely fall hereafter ; the innocent will suffer for the guilty, their children
perhaps or later generations \' In a somewhat higher strain, and looking
at the matter not from the point of view of a legislator but of the inno-
cent sufferers, Theognis prays 'when children of an unjust father follow
after justice in thought and act. . .let them not pay for the transgressions
of their sires ^' The belief no doubt originally arose partly because of
the widespread idea that the real unit was not the individual but the
tribe, and especially the family; partly as an explanation of the suffering
of the apparently innocent (cf. Jn. ix. 1 fif.). There is a sense in
which the old idea is valid as the study of natural science has shewn ;
children do suffer for the sins of their parents; but the explanation is
different. In OT. times there was no conception of the Laws of Nature
(cf. pp. xlviii. 10 ff.), or of any intermediary forces — God Himself was
the direct agent in every transaction. Therefore any evil came from
Him and was regarded as the expression of His anger against the guilty
offender. More enlightened ages have recognised a distinction between
the consequences of sins and their punishment, and to regard the former
as judgements introduces a limitation and depicts God as a harsh
despot^. Jeremiah taught, as did Ezekiel after him, that men must
suffer for their own sins and in his teaching, let it not be forgotten,
Hebrew religion arrived at a point which was not reached by Greek
philosophy until some two centuries later in the time of Plato*.

V. Ths value of ritual

Believing as Jeremiah did, that religion was a relation of a spiritual
character between God and the individual, he found himself opposed

1 xii. 17 ff. Cf. J. Adam, Religious Teachers of Greece, pp. 86 f., to whom I am
indebted for this and the following quotations.

2 737 ff. Cf. Ez. xviii. 21 f.; the similarity, however, is only verbal as the
prophet is dealing with the case of an unrighteous man who himself turns from
the evil of his ways.

^ Cf. S. Schechter, Studies in Judaism, p. 265, 'There is no possibility of over-
coming the moral objection against punishment of people for sins which they have
not committed.'

* xxxi. 29 f. ; Ez. xviii. ; cf . Dt. xxiv. 16 ; Wisd. iii. 16 ; and for a discussion of
the treatment of the whole question in Apocryphal Literature see Wicks, The
Doctrine of God in Jew. Apoc. Lit. pp. 257 ff.

Ivi INTRODUCTION [§ 5

to the popular ideas in another respect, namely in regard to the value
of ritual. Jeremiah was a typical 'prophet' in his outlook, and the
priestly and institutional elements of religion were for him of compara-
tively little importance, — an attitude of mind which was strongly in
contrast with that of Ezekiel (see pp. Ixxxivf.), and he even goes so far
as to deny the divine origin of the temple sacrificial system \ The truth
of the matter was that Jeremiah, like the English Puritans, had within
him 'the consciousness of a spiritual life which no outward ordinances
could adequately express^' The position of ritual in religion and the
outward expression of the spiritual life will always remain a problem to
worshipping man, some form of ritual expression seems necessary, as
the banner of the Salvationist and the handshake of the Quaker plainly
shew. Ritual becomes dangerous when its observance is made a sub-
stitute for righteousness, or when it is used for the setting forth of
what are looked upon as false doctrines.

In primitive communities where religion has scarcely struggled above
the level of magic the due and proper performance of the correct ritual
acts is of the utmost importance, more important by far than the observ-
ance of any merely ethical precepts ; such was the conception prevailing
amongst the Greeks in Homeric times^ 'The Magical Fallacy is far
older than Christianity, almost as old as the mind of man. Everywhere
in primitive religion we come upon the belief that supernatural powers
can be forced into the service of man by a knowledge and use of the
right form of words, or of the right ceremonial. The god is bound to
grant the desires of the worshipper who knows the secret. Not faith
but exact ritual can move mountains ;

"Carmina vel caelo possuut deducere lunam^."

Hence followed the necessity of concealing the right method of approach-
ing the gods, lest it should be copied and used against its proper owner
or neutralised by still more potent charms*.'

The estimation of the value of ritual in the worship of God held by
Jeremiah's contemporaries was evidently very similar to that described
above, and it seems to have been widespread amongst them, receiving
naturally enough the ready and anxious support of the priests. Jere-

1 See Additional Note on vii. 22 S.

2 Of. T. H. Green, Works, in. p. 125.

3 See Odys. xix. 365 f . ; Iliad ix. 535 ff. , 499 S.
* Virgil, Eclogue viii. 69.

5 J. H. F, Peile, The Reproach of the Gospel, p. 69.

§ 5] THE TEACHING OF JEREMIAH Ivii

miah condemned, as divi Plato in later times and beneath other skies,
such a degraded idea of the worship demanded by Almighty God\

vi. The religious duties of man

Man's religious nature has two channels through which it may seek
an outlet, and these two channels represent or correspond to his two-
fold relationship with the things outside himself; his relation to God
on the one hand, and his relation to his fellow-men on the other. What
then was Jeremiah's teaching on these two points ?

{a) Duty towards God. Jeremiah recogoises that men are free to
worship and obey Jehovah or they are free to ignore Him; the choice is a
voluntary one (ii. 19); but to know God is man's greatest glory, greater
by far than the possession of power or wealth (ix. 23 f.). The doctrine of
the New Covenant with its high ideal came to Jeremiah's contemporaries
as something which was quite beyond their comprehension or power to
realise; and indeed this doctrine never really had much influence in
Judaism before the coming of our Lord; but since His day the communion
of the soul with its Maker has been the foundation of all religion and a
modern writer can even go so far as to say that 'religion... assumes a
moral relationship, the relationship of personal beings as existing between
man and the Object of his worship-.' Further, man owes to God the
duty of worship (ii. 5 £f.), and this worship was mainly that of the sacri-
ficial system which Jeremiah alsewhere condemned on account of its
being offered from hypocritical, or at best, ignorant hearts (vii. 10,
21 ff.). When Jeremiah questioned the antiquity of the whole method
of worshipping Jehovah he was not necessarily wishing that the system
should be abolished, nor did he think, as has been suggested, that the
outward ordinances were merely a concession to the weakness of the
Jews, and instituted to prevent the introduction of unlawful images
such as the golden calf. As Bishop Paget pointed out, the sacrifices
of the Old Covenant were a training and preparation for the sacraments
of the New and a recognition of the fact that the body has its part to
play in the true worship of God*.

Jeri miah objected to the sacrificial system because it was made a
substitute for justice and true holiness; God demanded from man not

1 vii. 5, see notes; and cf. iii. 16, v. 30, vii. 1 — 28; and for Plato's opinion see
Euih. 14 E.

"^ Aubrey Moore, T-.ux Mundi^^, p. 47.

^ Cf. St Jerome on vii. 21.

* Essay on ' Sacraments ' in Lux Mundi^^, pp. 302 f.

Iviii INTRODUCTION [§ 5

only worship, but also obedience (iii. 25, v. 19, vii. 23, xii. 4, 7, &c.), and
if God's kindness in providing the bountiful gifts of the earth was not
sufficient to make men obey Him appeal must be made to their sense of
fear (v. 22 ; cf. v. 24). Though God through His own appointed mes-
sengers might endeavour to raise man's awe by confronting him with
the wonders of nature, yet the main function of these phenomena was
to persuade him that God was the only sufficient object of his trust
(xvii. 5 ff.). The prophet himself, by the purchase of the field at Ana-
thoth (xxxii.), shewed his own perfect confidence in God's power, and
indeed he had seen too much of man's weakness to place any confidence
in princes. He had seen no doubt Josiah, with his magnificent army,
marching out of Jerusalem in all the glow of trust in Jehovah of Hosts
and in the confidence of being His chosen instrument; and then there
had come back to the terrified city the tidings of Megiddo. He had
seen men trembling before Jehoiakim, and then he had doubtless seen
the corpse of the king dragged away to a disgraceful and unhallowed
burial. The tragic death of Josiah and the dishonours done to the
dead body of Jehoiakim had taught him the same lesson as was burnt
in upon the mind of the Norman chronicler Orderic by the events fol-
lowing the death of William the Conqueror. '0 magnificence of the
world, how worthless thou art, and how vain and frail: like the rain
bubbles of the shower, swollen one moment, burst into nothing the next.
Here was a most mighty lord, whom more than a hundred thousand
warriors just now eagerly served, and before whom many nations feared
and trembled ; and now by his own servants, in a house not his own,
he lies foully stripped, and from the first to the third hour of morning
is left deserted on the bare floor \'

(b) Duty to man. Jeremiah's contemporaries failed to realise, as
their fathers had done before them, that God cared more for justice
between a man and his fellow than He did for incense and sacrifices^;
and as a result the social conditions of Judali had become by the time
of the prophet distressing in the extreme. It was not that there was
any widespread ignorance of the rights of those who were oppressed
and defrauded, excuses on this ground could not have been upheld in

1 Quoted by Dean Church, St Anselm, pp. 184 ff.

2 The same statements would be true of the reUgion of the present day to a very
large extent. By our habit of spiritualising so much of the teaching of the Old
Testament we have been led to ignore or at any rate to obscure the main emphasis
of the prophetic message. That emphasis is on what are called the social virtues
and especially upon that cardinal virtue of all community life — justice between man
and man.

§ 5] THE TEACHING OF JEREMIAH lix

face of the clear teaching of the prophets. It is quite true that in the
early stages of the life of any community there are sometimes, owing
to the fewness and elementary nature of the accepted conventions, un-
certainties as to moral laws; but such was not the case in Judah at
the beginning of the sixth century B.C., and herein lay the hopeless-
ness of the situation ; the 'chaos and confusion which reigned were not
the birth-pangs of a new order, rather were they the forerunners and
heralds of the 'dread disorder of decay.'

Jeremiah began his ministry about a hundred years after that of
Isaiah and during the century which had elapsed the social condition
of the people had not tended to improve ; the abuses which had called
forth the vehement denunciations of Isaiah had found no remedy, on the
contrary they had increased their hold on the community. By the time
of Jeremiah, indeed, the small peasant farmers, the great bulwark of the
state in peace as in war, had largely been crushed out of existence by
the exactions and greed of the larger proprietors, and in their place
had risen up a host of slaves and serfs who had no interest in im-
proving the land they were compelled to cultivate or in defending a
system which was the mainstay of their oppressors. The economical
and political stability of the community was thus being sacrificed to
the ambition of a few individuals. The ancient simplicity of life, which
had always marked the .Jiidean peasantry and even the nobles, had
almost entirely vanished before the influence of Assyrian customs;
and society, as it became ever more complicated, became ever more
corrupt. The breezy life of the Judean uplands had given place to the
artificial atmosphere of an Oriental court; the eunuch had become more
important than the shepherd; among the upper classes luxury had
been substituted for manliness, and in the lower freedom had become
pauperism.

Such was the state of the people when Jeremiah began his ministry,
and as that ministry proceeded many causes combined to undermine
the remnants of the moral stability of the nation. Tlie death of Josiah
apparently entirely discredited the reformation which he had inaugu-
rated \ and everything in the political world grew more and more per-
plexing and confused. At such a time the upholding of the moral
laws, laws which depend for their force almost entirely upon a fixed
public opinion, is notoriously difficult". The internal conflict in the

The law of the single sanctuary is an exception to this statement.
Cf. Creighton, Wolsey-, p. 4.

Ix INTRODUCTION [§ 5

state between the prophetic party and its opponents, as well as the
rivalry which no doubt existed between the great landowners, must have
had a disintegrating efifect in the moral as in the material sphere\ A
catalogue of the sins and abuses denounced by Jeremiah would cover
practically all the last six commandments; and such a catalogue would
have been but a record of the outward manifestation of a state of society
in which all mutual trust and confidence had been destroyed, where
brother plotted against brother, and friend against friend (ix. 5 ff.).
Violence and oppression were the lot of the poor and the hireling (vi. 6,
xxi. 12, xxii. 13, 17) and even the right of bare justice was denied to
those whose weakness prevented them from enforcing their lawful claims
(v. 28, xxii. 3, xxxiv. 8 ff.). But deeds of wickedness were by no means
confined to the wealthy or the great, rich and poor alike sinned each
according to his opportunity, all were adulterers and fornicators (v. 7 f.,
ix. 2, xxiii. 10), covetous (vi. 13), murders were very frequent (xxii. 3,
17), and usury so common as to supply a figure which would be known
to all (xv. 10). With this weight of sin there went an entire failure
to recognise its heinousness, a failure which shewed itself in a moral
levity of outward conduct corresponding to the state of deadness of
conscience within (xv. 17, xvi. 9).

The poor and the oppressed evidently looked to God Himself for
direct help, and social reform in the sense in which it is understood
to-day was unknown, except so far as the words of the prophets touched
the hearts of those in power. But in truth the state of affairs was
beyond the healing ability of mortal physicians, in God was the only
help of the poor and He would relieve them in His own way and time.
Such an attitude of mind is far removed from modern conceptions of
how best to deal with the problems raised by social inequalities, but it
recognises a truth which can be neglected only to our hurt and peril.
The student of sociology has gone to the opposite extreme and tends to
leave God entirely out of account. The race has attained to such a
measure of perfection by its own eff"orts that there is a strong tempta.-
tion for it to rely on the continuance of those efforts alone for its
ultimate salvation. This salvation, so it would seem, is to be achieved
by means of either improved education, or by a more perfect organi-
sation of industrial life, or by some other form of legal enactment.
Civilised man so constantly depends upon his reasoning powers that he
is in danger of losing his instincts, and amongst them that instinctive

1 Of. J. R. Lowell, The English Poets, p. 34, ' A conflict of opposing ambitions
wears out the moral no less than the material forces of a people.'

§ 5] THE TEACHING OF JEREMIAH Ixi

regard for the God who alone can guide him to the light and the truth.
Jeremiah, however, had been taught by the bitterness of his own dis-
appointments to distrust the arm of flesh and his one remedy for the
evils of his day was repentance and a fresh turning to God.

The most pressing problems with which the prophet was confronted
were international, and therefore he did not spend so much of his
energy as did Micah, for example, in denouncing social abuses. None
the less it was no mere coincidence that led men to see in him another
Micah (xxvi. 18), for he was possessed by the same burning indignation
against the oppressors of the poor and needy, by the same outward
fearlessness in denouncing wrongs of every kind, and by the same care-
lessness as to his own fate, which had upheld the earlier prophet. In
his teaching Jeremiah never attempted to change the economic system
upon which the life of the nation was organised, his endeavour was to
transform the relations of man with man, to make his people realise
their mutual dependence and their duty one to another. When the
prophets represented Israel under the figure of the vine, or they spoke
of 'the virgin daughter of [my people,' they were attempting to express
an idea which corresponded with what we should now call the 'organic
and social life' of the nation. To them the nation was a kind of
'gigantic personality' and the sins they were concerned especially to
denounce were those which tended to destroy the body politic. Hence
Jeremiah is always calling upon men to do judgement (xxi. 2, xxii. 3),
which he even goes so far g,s to equate with that great end of man's
life — to know God (xxii. 16).

vii. The Future

To the popular mind a prophet is one who foresees the future, and
foretells things yet to be; and this conception of the prophetic office
has been enshrined and perpetuated in everyday language by the
meaning attached to the word itself, even when used with no religious
connotation — a prophet is one who foretells. The Hebrew prophets,
however, as God's representatives were not mainly concerned with the
future (cf. pp. xvi, xxxf.); their first concern was with the things of
the present ; and their task, to deal with the needs of the day, to find
solutions for the difficulties and perplexities of their contemporaries.
But such difficulties and perplexities had their beginnings in the past,
for history does not consist of a mere vague succession of isolated events
and disconnected incidents ; rather is it the working out of a divinely
controlled plan in which the past and the present are linked with one

e2

Ixii INTRODUCTION [| 5

another, and with the future, by the closest possible connexion of cause
and effect. Hence the servant of the Most High, although his primary
concern is with the happenings of the present, must inevitably look
beyond them to the unknown years that are coming.

The desire to penetrate into the future, and to build upon its level
and unspoiled plains a noble edifice — an edifice often enough fashioned
from the ruins of the past and consecrated by the pains and hopes of
the present — is not peculiar to the canonical prophets, or even to the
Hebrew nation. At all times and amongst every race teachers have
arisen who have discerned, beyond the mists of the present, visions of
a better state of things : and almost invariably the motive which has
stimulated the imagination of the seer has been despair of society as
he found it in his own day. Take some of the best known of such
idealists — Plato, St Augustine, Lante, Sir Thomas More, — they, quite
as much as the writers of the innumerable works which belong to what
is technically known as Apocalyptic literature, wrote under the pressure
of a strong sense of failure and from a deficiency of hope in their own
age and environment. The Republic was contemporary with the decay
of Greek power and Greek ideals ; the De Civitate Dei was put forth
to describe a new and more abiding polity arising from the ruins of the
Roman Empire; the De Monarchia was a vision of that self-same
Empire — which Dante held, it must be remembered, to have Divine
sanction — healing the miseries of the world around ; and doing so by
absorbing into itself the warring fragments of divided rule; in order
that, as he so pathetically put it, ' in the little plot of earth belonging
to mortal man life may pass in freedom and peace'; and finally, the
Utopia was produced by one who lived in the period of exhaustion
which followed the Wars of the Roses and amidst the ever increasing
corruptions of an unreformed church \ The present age no less than its
predecessors, has also had its prophets; men who, from amidst the
perplexities of modern social and international conditions, raised their
eyes above, and endeavoured to describe the visions, which came to
them in their turn, of newer and better Utopias.

So it was with Jeremiah. His own sufferings and disappointments

were perhaps greater than were those of any other Hebrew prophet;

it was his appointed lot to live at a time when

'days decrease
And autumn grows autumn in everything.'

1 See Jowett, Republic, iii. pp. ccxviii — xxviii for a fuller working out of these
and other instances.

§ 5] THE TEACHING OF JEREMIAH Ixiii

Jeremiah did indeed live in a season of decay, and it was his lot to see
the nation gradually slipping from one folly to another. As a result,
pessimism in regard to the nation's immediate future took a deeper
tone in his prophecies than in those of any other canonical writer.
It is no paradox, however, that from this prophet of gloom and disaster
came the brightest and most glowing pictures of the ultimate future.

Jeremiah's vision of the future, however, was no vague and fantastic
dream dealing with abstract and indefinite objects, and tricked out
with all the finery of the later apocalypse ; it was a practical scheme
intended for actual human beings living in the very land that he
himself trod, and moreover a scheme which it would be possible to
make a reality if once the conditions became favourable. The future
as conceived by him concerned itself with men and the problems which
they have to face, whether they beset them as individuals or as
organised into communities, and the most convenient method of treat-
ing his teaching regarding the future is to divide it up under these
heads. But since the hope for the individual was dealt with in con-
nexion with the doctrine of the New Covenant, the communal or national
aspect of the question alone remains to be considered here.

To the Israelite mankind was divided into two unequal parts ; the
nation par excellence, the chosen people, and the rest of the world,
those, that is to say, who were outside the covenant, and who are
referred to as the nations, or the heathen, or the Gentiles ^ In
Jeremiah's day no one had yet risen above this distinction, not even
the prophet himself, though the underlying principle of the New
Covenant, if pressed to its logical conclusion, would destroy any real
distinction, and was indeed a forecast of that time when there should
be neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free. It will therefore be convenient
to divide the prophet's teaching concerning the future of the race into
two parts, as it affected (a) the people of Israel; and (6) the nations.

[a) The people of Israel. The New Covenant which was the basis
of the future hope was to be made between Jehovah and the House of
IsraeP (xxxi. 31 ff.); but with them as individuals, with all an in-
dividual's privileges and responsibilities. It is to be noted that the
phrase 'house of Israel' may include the men of the Northern Kingdom

1 This variety of names is mainly due to the translators of EVV. One of two
Hebrew words D''i5 and D^JSy is generally used. The latter word in the singular is
usually reserved for Israel.

2 ' The house of Judah ' which occurs in MT. is probably an insertion (see
notes ad loc).

Ixiv INTRODUCTION [§ 5

in this context, or it may refer to Judah only, as being the sole surviving
heir to the promise left to Jacob (see p. xvii). In the early days of his
ministry Jeremiah had hoped for a speedy return of the scattered exiles
of Ephraim (iii. Hi); and even in the later period, during the reign
of Zedekiah, he foretold that 'Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall
dwell safely S' though in this last quotation it is not certain from the
parallelism whether the content of the two words 'Judah' and 'Israel'
is the same or not. The prophet's hopes for the Northern Kingdom
were fruitless, for not only did they not return at his invitation, but
on the contrary the rest of the nation quickly sank to equahty in mis-
fortune ; Judah followed Samaria into exile, as, in spite of the prophet's
warnings, she had followed her into sin (iii. 6 ff.). But the exile of Judah
had been foreseen by Jeremiah, who recognised that the deeps of
national sin could only be cleansed by some such period of testing and
purification. The nation as a whole would never return, so the prophet
taught, but only a remnant selected by a process of fierce and bitter
trial. The doctrine of the Remnant at first used as a threat of almost
complete national destruction (cf. Is. iv. 2, x. 22), was now used as a
message of hope and of spiritual regeneration, Jeremiah had indeed
high and ardent hopes for the generation that would return from
Babylon, and his own contemporaries were warned that the people
must not be suffered to diminish in number even though they were to
dwell in a strange land for some seventy years (xxix. 6, 10). When the
release from captivity did eventually take place it was to be, so he
promised, of such a nature that the redemption from Egypt and the
wonders of the Exodus would speedily be forgotten (xxiii. 7 f.).

In trying to understand any prophetic vision of an apocalyptic
nature great difficulty is always experienced, and such difficulty is
almost unavoidable, in separating the various layers, if one may use
that term of a vision, of the future which is coming. A well-known
illustration is the account recorded in Matt. xxiv. of our Lord's fore-
casts of approaching destructions. As the sayings are there preserved
it is almost impossible to say how much of them refers to the immediate
future — the Fall of Jerusalem — and how much refers to that which is
remote— the last judgement. So it is with Jeremiah's forecasts, some
quite clearly refer to the time of the return at the end of the seventy
years, while some seem to have in view a much later period. In this
last connexion it should be pointed out that a large portion of the

1 xxiii. 6. For the date of the passage see notes thereon.

§ 5] THE TEACHING OF JEREMIAH Ixv

eschatological matter included in the prophecies is almost certainly
editorial and late. This much, at any rate, is certain, Jeremiah anti-
cipated a speedy return to Palestine for the nation when once the power
of Babylon was broken, and he shewed his confidence in its future by
buying up the field of Anathoth (xxxii. 1 — 15). It thus came to pass
that just as the field of Machpelah with its lonely grave was the pledge
to the Israelites throughout the wanderings of the Exodus of the future
possession of the promised land, so was the memory of this simple act
of faith to be a sacred pledge throughout the long years of exile in
Babylon that Judah should once more become their own. By a simple
act of purchase, an everyday transaction, both patriarch and prophet
sought to arouse in their countrymen a sense of national vocation and
a trust in the Divine protection. The later Apocalyptical writers as a
rule despaired of any regeneration of this earth, and even St John looked
for a New Jerusalem to descend from heaven ; though at the same time
it should be noticed that it was Jerusalem, and no strange city, which
was thus to realise his longings, in fact one might almost read into the
seer's mind a definite hope of a regenerate city. In writing of the future
as he saw it, Jeremiah had no doubts as to the possibility and the hope
of its being realised here on earth, and in the holy city itself, which was
to be re-built together with the temple (xxx. 18). One great difference
there was to be, however, the ark was no more to be an object of vene-
ration\ Furthermore the new community, which was to inherit these
good things to come, was no longer to be at the mercy of unjust and
grasping rulers, the 'shepherds' who sought their own gain and not the
good of the sheep; but it was to have a body of righteous judges (xxiii.
4), culminating in a king of the house of David, a king whose very
name would declare his character, 'The Lord our righteousness' (xxiii.
5 ff., xxx. 9). It is quite in keeping with what we know of Jeremiah
that his soul should soar above the evil rulers of his own day and
should discern in the dim future the promise of the ideal king. The
times cried out for a just ruler, and as the spokesman of the oppressed
and despised classes, the prophet could well have anticipated Dante's
protest :

' A king we need whose eyes at least shall see
That city's towers where dwells true righteousness I'

1 ill. 16 f.; these vv. come-from the early period of the prophet's ministry, but
there is no reason for thinking that his opinion was modified later, rather the
contrary as the utterance has been preserved.

a Purg. XVI. 95 f.

Ixvi INTRODUCTION [§ 5

It should be noticed that Jeremiah has no new type of ruler to suggest,
but that his ideas naturally express themselves through the medium of
that kind of government to which he has been accustomed, for the pre-
exilic prophets instinctively pictured 'their Utopia, their ideal state as
an ideal monarchy ; for patriarchal monarchy was the only form of state
they knew^' In xxx. 21 it is declared that the 'ruler' is to 'approach'
God, that is to say he is to be a priest as well as a prince; such ideas
belong rather to the exilic school of Ezekiel and to still later times, and
there are many reasons for regarding the passage as late (see notes ad
loc). At the same time Jeremiah's conception of the future is distinctly
spiritual and in strong contrast to some of the material anticipations
of later writers, and of some even who lived in Christian times^. It is
quite true to say that if 'Jeremiah's picture of the Messianic king and
his kingdom is less magnificent than Isaiah's, the true glory of that
rule comes into fuller prominence in proportion as the outward splendour
falls away ; and we make a long step forward towards the idea of that
spiritual kingdom which was to be the true fulfilment of the hopes of
IsraeP.'

(h) The Nations. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet of the nations
(i. 5), and such an office had a two-fold scope or reference; on the one
hand to the political, and on the other to the religious, future of those
with whom his message was concerned. As was said above the most
pressing problems of Jeremiah's times in the sphere of politics were
international. Judah, deserting the policy of Isaiah and led on by the
wild ambition of her kings, had plunged once more into the vast whirl-
pool of contemporary politics, and her counsels were swayed by the rival
claims of Egypt and of Babylon. Jeremiah himself was pronouncedly
in favour of a pro-Babylonian policy, and indeed saw in the Chaldeans
an instrument specially raised up by Jehovah for bringing vengeance
upon the world. So convinced was the prophet of the lawful and ultimate
triumph of Nebuchadrezzar that resistance, even on behalf of the beloved
city itself, was useless and wrong (xxvii. 8, xxxviii. 2 i.y. Jerusalem

1 Canon Streeter, Foundations, p. 87.

2 The strange beliefs held bv Papias and other early Christians are well known,
and even one who prided himself upon his discernment so much as Eusebius could
see in the decorations put up by the Emperor Constantine a fulfilment of the
Golden Future of the Prophets, if not the coming of the New Jerusalem itself {Vit.
Const. II. 33). It is perhaps necessary to look upon this as one of the not uncommon
cases of the insight of the historian being forgotten in the zeal of the panegyrist.

3 A. F. Kirkpatrick, The Doctrine of the Prophets^, p. 323.

* In a similar manner Luther in his earlier years regarded the Turks as an
instrument raised up by God for the punishment of Christendom, and therefore not

§ 5] THE TEACHING OF JEREMIAH Ixvii

was bound to fall because of the sins of her children. This teaching
was a strange reversal of the confident pledges of Isaiah that Zion was
inviolable, and to the men of the siege seemed little less than blasphemy
against God and treachery to the state (xxxviii. 4). But the forecasts
of Jeremiah were fulfilled and the holy city burnt by the alien conquerors,
and in the providence of God the very forecasts which had seemed to
be blasphemy were used for the purifying and sustaining of the worship
offered to Himself^ Punishment did indeed begin at Jerusalem, but
God who rules all the nations of the world and not merely His own
people did not allow it to end there (xxv. 29) ; He had a controversy
with all the nations and Babylon was His weapon against them (xxv.
15 ff.). Even Babylon itself was not to escape unpunished, but the
Divine vengeance was at length to seek it out also (xxv. 12). In some
passages of OT. itself the final doom of the nations is regarded as
certain^, and in the later non-canonical writers still further emphasis
is laid on their coming extermination ^ In Jeremiah the nearest approach
to this attitude of mind is found in x. 25 where Jehovah is implored
'to pour out His fury' upon the heathen for they have devoured Jacob.
In the list of prophecies at the end of the book the treatment which
is to be awarded to the various nations differs considerably, and some
are promised a time of revived prosperity, e.g. Egyi^t (xlvi. 26), Ammon
(xlix. 6), Elam (xlix. 29)^ In one passage at least a striking feature
is introduced, and that is, that the survival of the nations will depend
on their attitude towards Jehovah; 'if they will diligently learn the
ways of my people, to swear by my name... then shall they be built up
in the midst of my people. But if they will not hear, then will I pluck
up that nation, plucking up and destroying it^' The double scope of
the prophet's office towards the nations is thus coordinated, and their
political and religious future closely connected. On the other hand the
means by which the nations were to be attracted towards Jehovah was
the desire to share in the blessings which would be poured upon the
penitent nation when Judah had once more turned to Him (iv. 1 f. ;

to be resisted. The siege of Vienna and the nearer approach of the Ottomans
however quickly changed his attitude.

^ Cf. pp. Ixxxiii f.

- E.g. Is. xxiv., xxxiv.; Mic. iv. 11; Zeph. ii,, iii. 8—10; Zech. i. 19 ff., xii. 3f.,
xiv. 1—4; Hag. ii. 21 f.

3 Cf. Eth. En. xci. 9; 4 Esdr. xiii. 37 f., 49; Ps. Sol. xvii. 25, 27; Apoc. Bar.
xxxix. 7 — 10.

* The promise to Moab (xlviii. 47) is of doubtful authenticity, being absent
from Lxx.

5 xii. 14 ff.

Ixviii INTRODUCTION [§ 5

cf. Driver on Gen. xii. 3)\ At the same time Jeremiah recognised that
between the soul of every man and his Maker there is a natural affinity ;
and the doctrine of the New Covenant, by its recognition of the principle
that a man's relation to God is his by virtue of his humanity, and not
by reason of his being a member of any particular race, paved the way
for the inclusion of all nations within the Church of God. Moreover
it should be noticed that it is because of his own personal faith in
Jehovah that the prophet can look forward to the time when the
Gentiles shall turn to Him in worship; '0 Lord, my strength, and my
strong hold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, unto thee shall the
nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say. Our fathers
have inherited nought but lies, even vanity and things wherein there is
no profit I'

viii. Jeremiah! s Debt to the Past

Whatever view may be held of inspiration, and of the manner in
which the revelation entrusted to each individual prophet came to him,
it is impossible to regard these individual prophets as being each inde-
pendent of his fellows, without ancestor or descendant in the spiritual
world. On the contrary the religious leaders of Israel, though they may
not refer to one another by name, undoubtedly belong to a single stream
of revelation, 'a school of the knowledge of God for all the world' as
St Athanasius so happily named them I And it is natural that they
should be thus connected, for however original a teacher may seem to be
and in whatever sphere he moves, be it religious, or social, or literary,
unless he have his roots deep in the past he cannot be really great.
It is not seldom indeed that the most significant contribution to the
race made by such an one is to be found in his bringing once more to
the light some truth or ideal which had been allowed to fade from the
knowledge of his contemporaries. It is not in religion alone that
revivals take place; nor is a renaissance peculiar to culture. The
prophets have every right to be numbered amongst those who

'share the poet's privilege,
Bring forth new good, new beauty from the old.'

For, as Lowell has put it, 'A great man without a past, if he be not
an impossibility, will certainly have no future. ...The only privilege of

1 The same idea that the salvation of the Gentiles is in some way dependent
upon Israel runs through 2 Is. and is common in the later literature ; cf . Tob. xiv,
6 if. ; Test. xii. Patr. Jud. xxiv. 6, Lev. ii. 11, xiv. 4; Ps. Sol. xvii. 3f.

2 xvi. 19; cf. Is. xiv. 14 £f. ; Zech. ii. 11.
' De Inc. XII. 5.

§ 5] THE TEACHING OF JEREMIAH Ixix

the original man is, that like other sovereign princes, he has the right
to call in the current coin and re-issue it stamped with his own imaged'

Jeremiah was no exception to this universal rule, his debt to the
past cannot be overlooked, and though his contribution to that river
of truth which 'receives tributaries from every side' may seem dis-
tinctive and original, yet it would never have been made but for the
life-giving power of that river itself, and of some even of its smallest
and least known tributaries. The outside influences which moulded
the youth of Jeremiah are in their entirety known only to the God who
chose him to be His instrument : the pious home ; the godly parents ;
the older friends who shaped the religious consciousness of the growing
boy; all these we can never know; nor can we rule out the possible
influence of prophetic writers of whose very existence we are ignorant.
Jeremiah's mind had an instinctive reverence for the past, a clear and
loving recognition of the value of tradition, of those old paths from
which men's feet stray so readily; and if one may judge from his own
statements, the supreme task laid upon him was to restore to Israel the
pure religion of the wilderness period and to purge it from novel and
alien abuses which had been allowed to enter it.

Amongst canonical prophets he owed most to Hosea. Not only was
he indebted to him for many of his ideas, but he has even preserved
and re-expressed the very images in which the earlier prophet had
clothed them. It is not merely that the circumstances of the two pro-
phets were very similar, Hosea being the herald of the Fall of Samaria,
as Jeremiah was of that of Judah, but the resemblance is so close
that there must have been definite borrowing on the part of the later
prophet". It is to Hosea that Jeremiah owes the conception of Jehovah
as the loving husband of the nation, as well as the idea of God as
Father; it is through his influence that the service of other gods is
described as adultery and fornication; and doubtless it was from the
same source that Jeremiah got his figure of the wilderness period as
the espousal timel From the prophet Micah, in addition to the quota-
tion of Mic. iii. 12 in xxvi. 18, Jeremiah seems to have derived some

1 'Lectures on the English Poets, p. 270.

^ Cf. Harper, Amos and Hosea, in ICC. p. cxli.

^ Parallels between the two prophets have been worked out in some detail by
various scholars, e.g. Kirkpatrick in his Doctrine of the Prophets^, p. 117. The
following list is by no means exhaustive: Jer. ii. 2ff. and Hos. i. — iii., vi. 4,
xiii. 5 ; ii. 8 aud iv. 4ff., v. 1, vi. 9 ; ii. 18 and vii. 11 ; ii. 31 ff. and i. 2, ii. 2 ff. ;
iii. 22 and xiv. 1, 4 ; iv. 3 and x. 12 ; v. 30 and vi. 10 ; vii. 9 and iv. 2 ; vii. 22 f.
and vi. 6 ; ix. 12 and xiv. 9 ; xiv. 10 and viii. 13, ix. 9 ; xviii. 13 and vi. 10; xxiii.
14 and vi. 10 ; xxx. 9 and iii. 5 ; xxx. 22 aud ii. 23.

Ixx INTRODUCTION [§ 5

of his teaching, for the utterances of the two prophets have much in
common \ It may well be, however, that this similarity, which seldom
extends to actual wording, was due more to similarity of situation than
to direct borrowing; as was pointed out above the fact that Jeremiah
was recognised as a second Micah is evidence of some resemblance in
character and teaching. The parallels between Amos and the book of
Jeremiah are fairly numerous, though it is not certain that they
originated with the prophet himself, being found as they are for the
greater part in the section on the nations. Dr Harper sees distinct
traces of Amos' influence and quotes several instances of it, the most
striking being that in these two prophetic books only is there use made
of the phrases 'virgin of Israel' and 'days are coming^' Jeremiah
does not seem to have owed much to the teaching of his greatest pre-
decessor Isaiah, at any rate as far as it is contained in OT. ; and though
there are resemblances between his prophecies and those of his con-
temporary Zepkaniah they would appear to arise more from the simi-
larity of environment than from any mutual influence. With Nahum
and Habakkuk, who were also his contemporaries in all probability,
Jeremiah's writings shew little kinship and the difl"erence in point of
view is so striking as to preclude the possibility of influenced

ix. The Methods of Jeremiah's Teaching

Those who have had a message for their fellows in every age and
in every land have endeavoured to deliver it by means of the spoken
word, and in cases where civilisation has advanced sufiiciently, \ijf
means of writing also. It is not probable that by Jeremiah's time much
use was made of writing — though we are told that he sent a letter to
those who had been taken to Babylon after the first capture of Jeru-
salem (xxix.), and that he had records of his prophecies written down
(xxxvi. 2). But to us his message comes entirely through the medium
of a book, and the consideration of this method of arousing his con-
temporaries will be found in the section dealing with its composition
(pp. Ixxii fif.).

Jeremiah, like the other OT. prophets, did not limit his methods of

1 Cf. Jer. xii. 16 and Mic. iv. If.; xvi. 19 and iv. 1 f. ; xxiii. 9ff. and ii. 11, iii.
11 ; XXX. 9 and iv. 7, v. 2 ; xxxi. — xxxiii. and ii. 15.

2 Amos and Hosea, p. cxxxvi. Cf. Jer. xlvii. 2, xlviii. 1, xlix. 1, 7, 28, 34 and
Am. i. 3, 6 &e. ; xlviii. 25, 44 &c., and i. 5, 8 &c. ; xvii. 27 and ii. 5; xxi. 10 and
ix. 4; XXV. 30 and i. 2; xlix. 13, 20i!f. and i. 12; xlviii. 7, xlix. 3 and i. 15. See
also the list in the volume on Amos in the present series of Commentaries, p. xxiv.

' Cf. Davidson, Nahu7n, &c. in Camb. Bible, p. 63.

§ 5] THE TEACHING OF JEREMIAH Ixxi

teaching merely to the spoken and the written word. He was quite
aware that truth is most easily perceived and most firmly grasped when
seen in action, and he endeavoured constantly so to exhibit it'. The
prophet also made a varied but wise use of symbols, knowing that, next
to exhibiting it in action, the most effective way of declaring and
enforcing truth is, as it were, to embody it in a symboP. As John
Bunyan said, when defending himself for the use of so much allegory
in Pilgrim's Progress :

'The prophets used much by metaphors
To set forth truth.'

Closely akin to these symbolical actions was the use which Jere-
miah made of visions, and indeed it is sometimes hard to say whether
the prophet is describing an actual event or something which was
performed merely in a vision^. In the case of ftie two baskets of figs
(xxiv. 1 ff.) the vision may have been purely subjective, 'an inward
event' as Keil calls it, 'a seeing with the eyes of the spirit, not of the
body.' There seems to be one instance at least of a symbolical act which
was performed in vision only, the giving of the cup of the fury of the Lord
to the various nations (xxv.), an account which it is impossible to take
literally. But the significance and importance of the visions cannot be
exhausted by regarding them merely as a means of teaching, they were
undoubtedly a channel of instruction and consolation to the soul of
the prophet himself. There have always been those who claimed that
knowledge was vouchsafed to them by the supranormal method of the
vision, and such experiences are really beyond and outside the scope
of criticism, except as regards their contents, for as Miss Eveljni Under-
bill has said, 'it is really as impossible for those who have never
experienced a voice or a vision to discuss it with intelligence, as it is
for stay-at-homes to discuss the passions of the battlefield on the
materials supplied by war correspondents ^' These visions and voices
are beyond the scope of criticism, but it is perhaps necessaiy to point
out that they are not for this reason to be taken as infallible guides to
truth and knowledge ; else would mankind have accepted some strange
and contradictory teaching. It is further to be noticed that the greatest

^ Cf. for example his purchase of the field at Anathoth (xxxii.).

2 Instances of Jeremiah's use of symholical actions are to be found in xix. (the
broken vessel), xxviii. 10 (the wearing of the yoke), in xliii. 8ff. (the hiding of
stones in the brickwork of Pharaoh's palace).

3 xliii. 8 ff . is really an instance of such a difficulty ; see notes ad loc.
^ Mysticism, p. 334.

Ixxii INTRODUCTION [§ 5

mystics have always been careful not to attach too much importance to
supposed revelations which came to them from these sources \ The
visions which Jeremiah claimed to have seen were so natural and so
reasonable that few would be inclined to condemn them as extrava-
gances; they came to him so much in the course of his ordinary life
and indeed seem to have been suggested by the common sights of such
a life that to throw doubt upon them is hypercriticism. When the
prophet saw the almond tree, for example, as when he saw the basket
of figs, his mind was deeply occupied with his mission and the state
of those to whom he was sent ; the sudden realisation of the pre-
sence and significance of the objects before him must have come to
him with all the force of signs from heaven, as indeed they were I

§ 6. The Book of Jeremiah

i. Its Composition

In times past the various books which are attributed to the great
prophets were looked upon as being their actual productions, written
and composed by those whose names they bear. But this theory of the
origin of the prophetic writings will hardly stand the test of a strict
enquiry. The prophets, before Jeremiah at any rate, were probably not
literary men in the sense that they left writings behind them ; their
utterances were delivered to a definite audience, at a particular time,
and though some of them have survived in a written form, it is almost
certain that the prophets had no deliberate intention when they uttered
their message that such should be the case. The pre-exilic prophets
were preachers and speakers, not authors and writers ^ and therefore did
not make any complete written record of their sermons. The truth of
this theory is proved for all practical purposes by Jeremiah's omission
to write out his prophecies until he received a Divine command to do
so some twenty- three years after many of them had been delivered*.

1 Underhill, op. cit. pp. 321, 325, &c.

2 Cf. the story of Eobert Bruce and the spider.

3 They would probably have agreed with Plato's opinion that though ' the writing
of books may be useful as an innocent pastime, or to preserve the records of oral
discussion against the forgetfulness of age, or by way of guidance to those who may
afterwards pursue the same track... literature is a much less efficient means of
education than the spoken word.' {Phaedrus, 275 d— 277a, as summarised by
J. Adam, in I'he Religious Teachers of Greece, p. 399.)

* The Lady Julian of Norwich, a famous English mystic, did not write down
her visions until the end of a period of fifteen years. See Inge, English Mystics,
pp. 38 ff.

§ 6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH Ixxiii

Collections of such discourses would naturally arise from the desire of
the disciples of the prophets to preserve the teaching of their master,
and the fact that much of the prophetic teaching was given in a poetic
form would make it easier to remember. The earliest direct reference
to this method is in Is. viii. 16 'Bind thou up the testimony, seal
the law among my disciples,' the meaning of which is that since Israel
will not receive the message it must be treasured up by Isaiah's dis-
ciples until a more favourable time'. Similarly in the passage in
Jer. xxxvi. (referred to above) the prophet is deliberately told to write
down his prophecies in order to bring them back to the minds of the
people. At first the various utterances of the prophets would be
handed down and preserved by different groups or schools, with all care
and faithfulness indeed, but not without those small alterations and
additions which are inseparable from an oral tradition. In course of
time efforts would be made to systematise such fragments, and to
arrange them into something like a logical sequence ; editorial matter
would also be provided to fill up gaps, and to give further information
about the prophet who gave the title to each particular book. The
result of this process is perhaps best seen in the book of Samuel. But
it would be a mistake to limit it to the books of the four Former
Prophets only, that is to say to Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings; the
books of the Latter Prophets doubtless owe as much to the work of
editors. A somewhat similar series of events accounts for the form of
the first three gospels as they have come down to us, as well as for
the collection of the Koran ^

The preservation of the records must, in the first place, have been
due to those who were in some real sense the disciples of the prophet,
or at least to those who were in sympathy with his aims. The bulk
of the people would be not at all anxious that such records of sin,
of folly, and of failure should be handed down to later generations;
though a certain amount of superstition, and even of godly fear, might
prevent their going to the lengths of Jehoiakim and his courtiers
(xxxvi. 23 f.). Still, as Pascal has pointed out^ it is an amazing thing

1 Cf. Ewald, Proph. i. 48. * Nothing is more instructive than what Isaiah tella
as in his own case. When his contemporaries refused to comprehend and believe
great truths which he had preached repeatedly, then especially the prophetic spirit
which had led him to speak summoned him also to write, that by this means he
might work for his own time, and lay down in an everlasting memorial for the ages
what he felt to be as true as his own life (viii. 1, 16 ; xxx. 8).'

^ Cf. D. B. Macdonald, Aspects of Islam, pp. 77, 82; Leblois, Le Koran et la
Bible Heb., pp. 37 ff.

^ Pensees, ii. vii. 2.

Ixxiv INTRODUCTION [§ 6

that such literature has been preserved at all, and especially by the
descendants of the very men to condemn whom it was originally written.
Much indeed of the prophetic preaching has undoubtedly perished;
and that not because it was less truly inspired by God than that which
has been preserved, but simply because it had not the same relation to
the needs of later generations of the house of Israel ; hence it was allowed
to fall gradually into disuse, until finally it disappeared altogether. God
may inspire a prophet or a messenger to meet a particular emergency
or to perform a particular task, which once completed even the record
of it perishes. In this way, it would seem, the disappearance of much
of the prophetic preaching may be accounted for ; it was truly inspired,
and a message from God, but it w^as at the same time too incidental,
too much involved in the circumstances of the age for men to treasure
it up and for their posterity to preserve it. But with the writings of
Jeremiah it was not so, and one cannot help thinking that as he
dictated his roll to Baruch, the prophet, knowing that his book would
be used by God to reprove the profanity of the king and 'the madness
of the people,' knew also that it was 'something so written to after-
times as they should not willingly let it die.'

Though there can be hardly a doubt that the book of Jeremiah, as
it has come down to us, contains much that comes straight from the-
prophet's lips, yet as a whole it is not much more his work than the
book of Samuel is the work of the prophet whose name it bears (cf.
p. Ixxiii). The lack of order and arrangement shews that the book is not
the work of one man but rather a collection ; and whilst some of the
passages are written in the first person, many of them are in the third.
It does not necessarily follow that all the latter passages are not the
work of Jeremiah, yet on the other hand they make no claim on the
face of them to come from him, and apart from later tradition would
hardly have been held so to do. The narrative in xxxvi. tells us that
the sermons delivered during the earlier part of his ministry were
recorded in a roll for King Jehoiakim, and it is natural to suppose that
the contents of this roll are included, not necessarily in their original
order, in the canonical book. It is impossible to say whether the roll
consisted merely of sermons and orations, and whether the framework
as it has come down to later ages was entirely supplied by another.
Probably it was so supplied, and the prophet's faithful scribe, Baruch
the son of Neriah, is generally held to have been its author. At any
rate it is the opinion of nearly all critics that the book as it stands
owes much to the pen of Baruch. It is exceedingly likely that Baruch

§ 6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH Ixxv

carried with him into Egypt the second roll (see xxxvi. 28) or some
similar record of his master's teaching, and added to it from time to
time, possibly with the knowledge, and even at the instigation of the
prophet, reminiscences of his ministr}^^ Some of the accounts of events
in which Baruch is said to have taken part shew signs of being the
work of one who was an actual witness of and actor in the scenes
which he describes (cf. xxxvi. 15 'Sit down now'), Jeremiah must have
been a fignire of great interest and some mystery to the exiles in Egypt,
and doubtless many traditions arose around his name ; and since this
interest would not be limited to Egypt, the same process was probably
in operation amongst the Jews in Babylon. After the exile these various
traditions would be collected, and to them might be added other floating
prophecies, the process continuing for many generations until the book
was finally declared to be canonical and no further additions to it were
allowed to be made. Some critics have endeavoured to split up the book
into its component parts and to indicate the authors by letters in the
margin, but though such a proceeding is possible in dealing with the
Pentateuch, and indeed essential to a correct understanding of the
various strata of the Mosaic law, it is too much a matter of conjecture
in the prophetic books to be reliable. Those who are interested in such
analyses will find Dr Peake's two volumes in the Century Bible exceed-
ingly well done^.

ii. Its Contents

The contents of the book are hard to analyse and indeed bewildering
in their present form which seems to follow no consistent scheme of
arrangement; and this bewilderment is increased by the absence of
any attempt to take advantage of the chronological notes, which in the
later chapters, at all events, are sufficiently numerous. As Canon
Nairne has said, 'The book of Jeremiah is not easily analysed. Attempts
have been made to classify its contents. One attempt by the Jewish
Synagogue provides the book as we know it in our English Bible.
Probably the most helpful way of looking at the book is to think of it
as a collection of manuscripts, stored in some corner of a library, not
yet fully catalogued, but providing material of different kinds for the

^ It is perhaps not necessary to point out that Baruch was no mere letter-writer
of the bazaar, hut a man of independent character and power, and one who was not
altogether free from personal ambition (xlv. 5). In Jeremiah's old age he seems to
have exercised a considerable influence over the prophet (xliii. 3; but see notes
ad loc).

^ For later Jewish traditions regarding the prophet see pp. Ixxxvi f.

B. /

Ixxvi INTRODUCTION [§ 6

illustration of a period of history. The period includes political and
religious events of great significance, and people and scenes pass so
quickly before our eyes that it is only natural we should find it difficult
to put the papers in order.' Perhaps the best attempt to re-arrange the
contents of Jeremiah is that of Cornill in SBOT., yet even it can hardly
be called final or really satisfactory. His arrangement is as follows :

(a) Discourses from the first twenty-three years of the prophet's
ministry (i.e. up to the date of the compilation of the roll, 604 B.C.),
i. 2, 4—19, ii. 1—13, 18—37, iii. 1—5, 19—25, iv. 3—9, 11—31,
V. 1—19, 23—31, vi. 1—30, iii. 6—16, xi., xii. 1—3, 5f., xviii., vii.,
Viii., ix. 1—21, X. 17—24, xxv. 1—3, 7, 11, 13 a, 15—29, xlvi. 1—12,
xlvii., xlviii. 1— 21a, 25, 28, 35—44, xlix. 1—33.

(6) Discourses from the later years of Jehoiakim, xiv., xv. 1 — 10,
15—21, xvi. 1—13, 16 ff., 21, xvii. 1—4, 14—18, xii. 7—17, xxxv.
1—14, 17 ff.

(c) Discourses from the reign of Jehoiachin, xiii.

{d) Discourses from the reign of Zedekiah, xxiv., xxix. 1, 3 — 15,
21— 22a, 316—32, xlix. 34—39, xxii., xxiii. 1—6, 9—18, 21—40,
xxi. 1—10, 13 f., XX. 14— 1{«, 7—12, xxxii. 1 a, 2 a, 6—15, 24—44,
xxxiii. 1, 4 — 13, xxiii. 7 f . (=xvi. 14 f.).

{e) Discourses from the period after the fall of Jerusalem, xxx.
1—9, 13—21, xxxi. 1, 2—9, 15—34, 38 flf., xlvi. 13—26.

(/) Passages for which no satisfactory context can be found, ii.
14—17, ix. 22—25, xii. 4, xvi. 19 f., xvii. 5, 11—13.

{g) Biographical passages composed after the death of Jeremiah,
xix., XX. 1—6, xxvi. 1—19,24, 20—23, xxxvi., xlv., xxviii. la, xxvii. 16,
6, 8—22, xxviii. 16—17, Ii. 59, 60a, 61, 63, 64, xxxiv. 1—7, xxxvii. 5,
3, 6 — 10, xxxiv. 8 — 22, xxxvii. 4, 11—21, xxxviii. 1— 28 a, xxxix. 15—
18, xxxviii. 28 6, xxxix. 3, 14, xl. 6—16, xii., xHi., xliii., xliv. 1—28.

(A) Further biographical passages from a different author than the
writer of those specified in {g), x. 1—4, 9, 5—8, 10, 12—16, xvii. 19—
27, xxxix. 1, 2, 4—12, xl. 1—5, l, Ii., Iii.

The remaining passages which it is needless to specify, consisting
as they do in most cases of a few verses only, or even of parts of a
verse, Cornill rejects as later glosses and interpolations.

Taking the book as it stands in EVV. the following is perhaps the
best manner of dividing it up.

§ 6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH Ixxvii

Part I. Prophecies mainly included in the BoU

(a) The prophet's call, i.

(b) The first collection of prophecies, ii. — vi.

(c) Prophecies at the temple gate, vii. — x.

(d) Prophecies on various occasions, xi. — xii.

(e) Warnings and Lamentations, xiii.
(/) Disaster and Despair, xiv. — xvii. 18.
(g) Concerning the Sabbath, xvii. 19 — 27.
(h) Lessons from the potter's art, xviii. — xx.

Part IL Prophecies mainly from the siege and after

{a) Judgements on Leaders and People, xxi. — xxiv.

{h) The cup of God's fury, xxv.

(c) The temple sermon and its sequel, xxvi.

{d) The false prophets and their teaching, xxvii. — xxix.

{e) The glories of the future, xxx. — xxxiii.

(/) Jeremiah's life during the siege, xxxiv. — xxxix.

{g) Jeremiah's life after the fall of Jerusalem, xl. — xlv.

Part in. Prophecies on the Nations

{a) Concerning the nations, xlvi. — li.
(6) Historical appendix, lii.

iii. Its Text

In the book of Jeremiah, as in several of the other books of OT. ',
there are found considerable divergences between the received Hebrew
text and the lxx. version. In the present book these divergences are
not merely matters of the omission of a few words here and there, or of
errors due to mistranslation, and so forth, they even extend to the dis-
placement of one whole section — and that an important one — of the
book (see introduction to chh. xlvi. — li.). It has been suggested that
the text implied by lxx. represents a later recension of the works
of Jeremiah compiled by the prophet himself during his sojourn in
Egypt and preserved by his fellow-exiles and their descendants'-. There
is, however, not much likelihood of this theory proving a correct one,

^ E.g. Proverbs, Job, Esther, Daniel, &c.

'^ Cf. Blass's theory that the Western text of the writings of St Luke represents
a different edition written by the evangelist himself.

/2

Ixxviii INTRODUCTION [§ 6

though it contains this much of truth that it recognises that the dif-
ferences between MT. and lxx. are so serious that they can only be
accounted for by the supposition that the Greek translators had before
them another text. To offer any really satisfactory explanation of the
existence of such a double text is difficult, and in view of our ignorance
of the history of the composition and transmission of the book as a
whole, practically impossible'.

§ 7. The Style of Jeremiah^

Though the God who inspired the prophets and teachers of old was
one and the same, and though the revelation which came to them
originated with that Father of Lights who is the source of every perfect
boon, yet the style in which the message was ultimately expressed
differed according to the differing personalities of each of the several
messengers. It was given to these men to see visions of God and in the
hidden recesses of the soul to hear the utterance of the Divine voice;
but to tell out what they had seen and experienced was a hard, nay an
impossible, task. Like St Paul they were lifted to the third heaven and
were shewn unspeakable things, things which they might not utter, not
because of any express prohibition laid upon them, but simply because
they were unable to do so ; to feel and to know is one thing, it is some-
thing diverse to find expression for that which has been felt and known.
Language even when reinforced by passion and quickened by inspiration
is but a poor means of conveying spiritual truths, for such truths are
'utterly beyond the powers of human understanding and therefore
without equivalent in human speech^.' The prophet then is always to

1 For fuller details of this question see Dr Streane, The Double Text of Jeremiah,
and Workman, The Text of Jeremiah — the latter with some amount of caution.
Mr H. St John Thackeray has recently advanced the theory that lxx. of Jeremiah
is the work of three translators, the first of whom did chh. i. — xxviii. (lxx.) and
who shews close affinities with the translator of part of Ez. and the Minor
Prophets; the second, who did chh. xxix. — li. (lxx.), resembles the style of the first
part of Baruch ; the third hand is responsible for ch. lii. only. See J. Th. S. iv.
245 ff. and Gram, of OT. in Greek, pp. 11 f.

2 The question of the vocabulary of the prophet and his use of certain favourite
phrases is not discussed here but the reader may be referred to the list in Driver,
LOr.Spp. 275 ff.

3 Evelyn Underbill, Mysticism, p. 500 : cf. also the similar testimony of John
Buskin : ' For what revelations have been made to humanity inspired or caught
up to heaven... have been either by unspeakable words, or else by their very nature
incommunicable, except in types and shadows... for, of things different from the
visible, words appropriated to the visible can convey no image.' Modern Painters,
Bk. n. ch. XV. § 1.

§ 7] THE STYLE OF JEREMIAH Ixxix

be regarded as one who is trying to express, through a pathetically in-
adequate medium, an inward and valuable experience.

The book of Jeremiah as it is contained in the Canonical Scriptures
comes mainly, at any rate as regards the narratives, from the pen of
Baruch\ and in considering the style of Jeremiah it will be necessary
to treat these sections as only of secondary value. The first mark of
the prophet's style, and one indeed which is typical of nearly all Hebrew
literature, is its reality. The Hebrew prophets wrote as they spoke,
and indeed, as was said above, it is doubtful whether they had any
conception of the value of the written word, except as a record of that
which had already been spoken; hence the impression of sincerity and
naturalness which their works never fail to leave behind. In the case
of Jeremiah's prophecies, the reader cannot but feel that they are the
utterances of one who had a message to deliver and who was more
concerned with what he said than how he said it; the form is only
incidental, the contents all supreme. This characteristic is seen in a
striking way in the use which .Jeremiah made of metaphors and figures;
he never allows himself to be turned aside by them, or to forget that
they are but means to an end ; the human and didactic interest is pre-
dominant, and the purely artistic always subordinate ; allegory is never
introduced for its own sake, but only to elucidate, as far as may be,
the thoughts of the prophet, and to impress them upon the minds of
his hearers.

Arising from the reality of the prophet's style is its simplicity and
vividness. The language as a whole is terse and compact and goes
directly to the point without pausing, with all that vigour and energy
which we should expect to find in the writings of a man of Jeremiah's
character. To give one example of his powers of description is sufficient,
though many others could be found, and this passage is unequalled in
the whole of prophetic literature for vividness of effect produced by
quite simple methods:

I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void;

And the heavens, and they had no Ught.

I beheld tlie mountains, and, lo, they trembled,

And all the hills moved to and fro.

I beheld, and, lo, there was no man.

And all the birds of the heavens were fled.

I beheld, and, lo, the fi-uitful field was a wilderness.

And all the cities thereof were broken down

At the presence of the Lord

And before his fierce anger^.

1 See pp. Ixxiv f. above. "^ iv. 23 ff.

Ixxx INTRODUCTION [§ 7

In this and other passages of denunciation and woe the very
simplicity of the utterance is often more dreadful and awe-inspiring
than would be a series of vague and tedious lamentations such as those
of him whom Gibbon has somewhat arbitrarily called 'the British
Jeremiah \'

But it is not only in his language that Jeremiah exhibits the
simplicity and directness of his style, it comes out also in his use of
imagery and symbolical figures. As was pointed out above the prophet's
use of allegory is generally judicious and restrained; one need only
compare the parable of the two baskets of figs (ch. xxiv.) with, say, the
elaborate allegory of the cave in Book vii. of The Republic to realise
the simplicity of Jeremiah's mind.

In some passages which are generally admitted to come from the
prophet himself there is an appearance of discursiveness and unnecessary
repetition, but in nearly every case this will be found to be due to later
editors who have either joined together several similar though dis-
connected fragments, or else have tried to drive home the moral of the
prophet's teaching by interpolating into it their own prosaic paraphrases.
So far the two marks of the prophet's style to which attention has
been drawn have been those characteristics of all true Hebrew literature,
reality and simplicity; the next feature to be considered is that of
passion. Jeremiah's style is eminently embrued with passion and in
some of his writings, especially those which describe his own spiritual
experiences, his emotion raises him to a height of lyric grandeur which
is seldom equalled even amongst the Hebrew poets themselves. His
passion, indeed, is often so great that he comes near to breaking that
canon which Lessing laid down for the art of sculpture — not only does
he writhe, he almost screams.

Cursed be the day wherein I was born :

Let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.

Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father,

Saying, A man child is born unto thee ;

Making him very glad.

And let that man be as the cities

Which the Lord overthrew and repented not:

And let him hear a cry in the morning

And shouting at noontide ;

Because he slew me not from the womb ;

And so my mother should have been my grave 2.

1 Gildas. See The Decline and Fall, &c. (Methuen's Standard Library Edition),
IV. p. 152 n. The directness of the prophet's style is also seen in his fondness for
short, abrupt questions : e.g. ii. 14, viii. 19, xiv. 19, xviii. 14, 20, xxii. 28, xxx. 6, &c.

2 XX. 14 ff.

§ 7] THE STYLE OF JEREMIAH Ixxxi

In these and other passages the emotions pent up in the prophet's
breast were so strong that, once an outlet was found for their expression,
they were almost certain to overflow the bounds of literary convention ;
such a glowing stream, tested and purified in the Divine furnace, could
not be contained in the mould of any merely human art. It is to this
excess of passion, no doubt, that we often attribute the not infrequent
changes of person, for example, which occur even in the same passage ;
changes which have led prosaic critics to imagine that either an altera-
tion of speaker has taken place, or else that they have discovered
another instance of composite documents. But examples of such ' pas-
sionate changes,' as Leigh Hunt once called them, are not far to seek
even amongst our own poets, it is sufficient to quote the instance which
called forth the above description :

^ 'my noble lord,

How does he find in cruel heart to hate
Her, that hun loved, and ever most adored
As the god of my life? Why hath he me abhorred*?'

But however much Jeremiah may be led away by the force of his
emotions, sometimes almost to the verge of loss of dignity, he never
loses his impressiveness. This is so partly on account of the natural
impressiveness of his subject matter, dealing as it does with things
sacred, and partly because he speaks always from the depths of a
troubled and struggling human heart.

Another quality of Jeremiah's style which must not be overlooked
is its picturesqueness. This quality is shewn mainly in the use of vivid
and striking images. For his choice of imagery Jeremiah usually draws
upon a mind which has long observed the ways of nature, and which
is filled with beautiful and glowing pictures, each in its turn capable
of suggesting to the prophet 'the spiritual presences of absent things.'
Jeremiah's love of nature was something exceptional amongst the Hebrew
prophets, and one need only compare his simple and obvious illustrations
derived therefrom with the involved and complicated visions of Ezekiel,
for example, to see how greatly it stimulated his descriptive powers^
Jeremiah's imagery, to put the matter in a word, was the result of
observation not of imagination, and his figures were the fruit not of art
but of nature. Hence his writings hardly ever fail to be picturesque.

Finally the prophet's style, where it is truly his own, is poetic. By
this is not meant that it conforms invariably to any definite rules of

I Spenser, Faery Queen, i. iii. 7 ff.

^ For Jeremiah's love of Nature see the Additional Note pp. 10 ff., and for his
use of symbolism cf. pp. Ixx f.

Ixxxii INTRODUCTION [§ 7

metre, except in the case of those passages which are dehberately so
written, but that even in the prose passages of Jeremiah there may
always be detected, to use the phrase of Sir Phihp Sidney, the move-
ment of 'poetical sinews.' In his avowedly poetic passages Jeremiah
rises to heights of lyric power which can hardly be equalled in the
whole range of literature, for, as Mr Watts-Dunton has said, the greatest
lyric poetry is found amongst the Hebrews only. It is with them alone
that the combination of 'unconscious power' with 'unconscious grace'
is found in its highest perfection, because it is with them alone that
there is the intense yearning 'always to look straight into the face of
God and live^'

A considerable part of the prophetic discourses included in the book
of Jeremiah are written in a metrical form, and especially in that par-
ticular measure called the Qinah : Duhm even goes so far as to question
the genuineness of any passage which is not written in this measure,
or does not bear marks of having been originally so written. The whole
question of Hebrew verse is very obscure, and experts are not even
agreed as to what constituted the unit of measurement. It may suffice
to say that many of the proposed attempts at re-arrangement, though
often extremely ingenious, cannot, in view of our ignorance of the rules
governing Hebrew prosody, be looked upon as more than provisional.
Certainly the requirements of any particular system of versification
are not by themselves a sufficient test of the genuineness of a particular
passage; metrical considerations, however, may often have their share
in deciding questions of criticism. The general principle that inter-
polations, possibly in many cases of a very early date, have been made
into not a few passages, must be admitted; serious difficulties arise
when attempts are made to apply it^

An interesting suggestion has been made as regards the peculiar
rhythmic prose in which some of the prophetic writings appear. It is
suggested that they owe this character to a species of self-hypnotism

1 See article 'Poetry' in Enc. BritJ, xix. p. 257. 'The Great Lyric must be
religions — it must, it would seem, be an outpouring of the soul, not towards man
but towards God, like that of the God-intoxicated prophets and psalmists of
Scripture. Even the lyric fire of Pindar owes much to the fact that he had a child-
like belief in the myths to which so many of his contemporaries had begun to give
a languid assent. But there is nothing in Pindar, or indeed elsewhere in Greek
poetry, like the rapturous song, combining unconscious power with unconscious
grace, which we have called the Great Lyric. It might perhaps be said indeed that
the Great Lyric is purely Hebrew.'

2 Those who are interested in the subject and desire further information should
consult E. G. King, Early Heh. Poetry, and for a more advanced treatment G. B.
Gray, The Forms of Heb. Poetry, and the books there referred to.

A

§ 8] THE INFLUENCE OF JEREMIAH Ixxxiii

similar to that found in those who produce what is known as automatic
writing. It is true that there are but few instances in OT. of the
prophets speaking in trance, but there is no reason to suppose that
the experiences of Balaam (Num. xxiv. 4) and of Elisha (2 K. iii. 15),
which seem to require some kind of trance condition, were entirely
without parallel. Miss Evelyn Underbill's remarks on the style of
writing found in the works of some of the mystics are interesting in
this connexion: 'The pecuHar rhythmic language of genuine mystic
dialogue' she says 'is an indication of its automatic character. Expres-
sion once it is divorced from the critical action of the surface intelligence
always tends to assume a dithyrambic form. Measure and colour,
exaltation of language, here take a more important place than the
analytic intellect will generally permits'

§ 8. The Influence of Jeremiah

Viewed from the limited standpoint of his own day the life of
Jeremiah, like the lives of so many of the world's greatest benefactors,
was a failure^. But a careful examination of the history of the Jewish
people, and indeed of the history of religion in the world at large, shews
how the influence of the prophet did not cease with his death, but
survived to become a factor of 'tremendous importance in deciding the
spiritual destinies of the race.

It would also be true to say that, even before Jeremiah's death,
the effect of his teaching was manifestly to be seen in operation ; there
can be but little doubt that but for the teaching of Jeremiah, the
Fall of Jerusalem and the deportation of the men of Judah would,
humanly speaking, have been as fatal to the survival of the religion of
Jehovah amongst the Jews, as the Fall of Samaria had been to its
survival amongst their kinsmen of the Northern Kingdom. When other
Semitic nations fell their gods fell with them, and it was no idle boast
that prompted Rabshakeh's question, ' Where are the gods of Hamath,
and of Arpad^? ' But Judah was overcome and still Jehovah had His
faithful worshippers. ' The preservation of pure religion after the
downfall of the nation depended,' says Dr Skinner*, ' on the fact that
the event had been clearly foretold. Two religions and two conceptions
of God were then struggling for the mastery in Israel, (l) The religion
of the prophets who set the moral holiness of Jehovah above every

^ Mysticism, p. 333. - See above pp. xxxiii ff.

3 2 K. xviii. 34. * Ezekiel in the Expositor's Bible, p. 51.

Ixxxiv INTRODUCTION [§ 8

other consideration and affirmed that His righteousness must be
vindicated even at the cost of His people's destruction. (2) The
popular religion which clang to the belief that Jehovah could not
for any reason abandon His people without ceasing to be God.... The
destruction of Jerusalem cleared the issues. It was then seen that
the prophets afforded the only possible explanation of the course of
events.' In this way Jeremiah's teaching had a real, if only partly
conscious, influence on the people at large even during his lifetime.

What was Jeremiah's influence upon his fellow-prophets ? What
special eff"ect had he, above all, upon his younger contemporary
Ezekiel ? It is one of the most remarkable things in OT. that with
a single exception', no prophet is mentioned by any of his fellows,
though the influence of the teaching of one prophet upon another can
be clearly traced. Jeremiah and Ezekiel, whilst often referring to
the false prophets by whom they were opposed, never mention one
another either by way of approval or otherwise, and, indeed, one might
almost go so far as to say, seem to have been ignorant of each other's
existence^ In spite of Ezekiel's failure to refer to Jeremiah there is
so much in common between the teaching of the two prophets both in
form and substance that some dependence of the one on the other
seems almost certain. As Ezekiel did not receive his call till the
older prophet had been proclaiming God's message for more than
thirty years, any debt must be on his side. There is indeed hardly
any part of Ezekiel's writings, except of course the final section which
deals with the restored Temple, which does not shew some evidence of
the teaching of Jeremiah. A comparison of the following passages
will make this clear: Jer. ii. 7, Ez. xx. 27 ff". ; iii. 11, xvi. 51; iv.
5—9, vii. 14, 27; v. 3, iii. 9; v. 20 fif., xii. 2; vi. 14, xxxviii. 15; vi.
17, iii. 17; vi. 22, xiii. 10; xi. 3—8, xx. ; xiv. 13 ff"., xiii. ; xv. 16,
ii. 8— iii. 3; xvi. 3 — 9, xxiv. 16—23; xxiii. 1 — 4, xxxiv.; xxiv. 7,
xxxvi. 26; xxx. 9, xxxvii. 24; xxxi. 27, xxxvi. 9 — 11; xxxi. 29 f., xviii. ;
xlvi., xxix. — xxxi.

In spite, however, of the close relation of their teaching on so

many points, Jeremiah and Ezekiel differ considerably in their point of

view. If one may be allowed to apply present-day party names to the

prophets of the old dispensation, Jeremiah is a Protestant, Ezekiel
—__—_— J, __

^ The exception is the mention of the prophet Micah in Jer. xxvi. 18. Even here
the words are spoken not by Jeremiah himself but by the elders of the land.

2 Cf. Ez. xxii. 30 which implies that there was no true prophet amongst the
people in Palestine.

§ 8] THE INFLUENCE OF JEREMIAH Ixxxv

a Catholic. Jeremiah lays stress on personal religion, the intercourse
of the soul with its Divine Lord, he seems to demand that the revela-
tion once given should be continually repeated to him, he will receive
nothing on authority. Ezekiel, on the other hand, accepts the Divine
message, and at once attempts to carry it out, not in any emotional
way, but with the strong disciplined spirit which characterised him.
God had spoken, man knew what was right and therefore he must do
it. Unlike his contemporary, Ezekiel did not require the stimulus of
repeated emotional experiences. The two prophets, like the two parties
in the Church, represent different dispositions \ The chief difference
in actual teaching between them is in the matter of ritual. Jeremiah
apparently condemned ritual as not being part of the original religion
of Jehovah, and as having become, through the superstitions which had
gathered round it, a substitute for justice and goodness^. Ezekiel, on
the other hand, seemed to regard pure worship as being necessary to
fellowship with God, and he looked upon the ritual as enshrining the
truths of the religion of which it formed a part. The new spirit and
the new covenant which is to be made with the House of Israel is to be
preserved in the ceremonies of an institutional Church. Jeremiah was
the first to lay stress on the personal relation of the individual with
his God ; Ezekiel supplemented this with his conception of the Church,
which is to take the place formerly assigned to the nation in the scheme
of the Divine economy.

Upon the later prophets Jeremiah does not seem to have exercised
any great influence — though the figure of the Branch for the Messiah
in Zech. iii. 8, vi. 12 is probably taken from the use in Jer. xxiii. 5 —
with the notable exception of the Second Isaiah. The coining of the
phrase Servant of the Lord may be due to Jeremiah as its first use
seems to have been in Jer. xxx. 10, and furthermore the portrait of
the Servant contained in the later part of Isaiah owes many of its

1 Bishop Creighton has well summed up the difference between the two types in
one of his early letters. ' Some persons,' he says, ' seize hold of the love of God
and exalt this to a spasmodic passion, having impressionable natures capable of
momentary intensity, not of the continuous strain required for a moral life : such
natures tend to monasticism, to religiosity, to formalism, or other things according
to their surroundings. Others taking the love of God for their standard, translate
their main principles into a number of practical axioms, and refer their separate
acts to these axioms as rules: their danger is to forget their main principle, or
rather put it in the background, and so gradually tend to lower the strictness of
the rules by submitting them too much to the considerations of expediency which
necessarily follow upon practice.' Life and Letters, i. pp. 94 f.

* vii. 22 f. with Additional Note.

ixxxvi INTRODUCTION [§ 8

traits to the character and history of Jeremiah, such at least is the
opinion of many able critics \

Of the literature contained in the third division of the Hebrew
Canon the book of Job has affinities with Jeremiah ^ and likewise the
book of Psalms of which no less than nine have been attributed to the
authorship of the prophet, viz.: xxii., xxxi., xxxv., xxxviii., xl., Iv.,
Ixix., Ixxi., Ixxxviii., and many others shew marked traces of the
influence of his language and ideas ^

Concerning the connexion of Jeremiah with one book of OT. nothing
has as yet been said. As is well known the majority of critics consider
that Deuteronomy, or at any rate its main kernel, is older than Jeremiah
— that in fact it was the book found by Hilkiah in the Temple.
According to this view any indebtedness between the two books — and
such indebtedness must be acknowledged to be large both in teaching
and style — must be due to borrowing by the prophetic writer. During
the past few years, however, the opinion has been growing that
Deuteronomy is of later date than had been generally supposed. This
opinion has found its clearest expression in the writings of Canon
Kennett, who, approaching the subject from the point of view of the
time required for the composition of the separate documents of the
Pentateuch and for their amalgamation, would place the date of Deutero-
nomy during the exiled The subject is full of difficulties owing to our lack
of knowledge, and to the student of Jeremiah the theory that the law-
book was produced under the influence of the prophet's teaching rather
than that the book produced the prophet has singular attractions^
On these and other grounds, the arguments for which are too technical
and too lengthy to be produced here, the present writer after working
on the subject for some years feels bound to express his substantial
agreement with the position taken up by Canon Kennett, to whose
writings he would refer those who are interested in the suggestion.

Interest in Jeremiah seems steadily to have increased during the
period which elapsed between the exile and the coming of our Lord, and

1 See Skinner in Cnmb. Bible, pp. 103, 111 ; G. A. Smith in tiie Expositor's Bible,
pp. 275, 358 ff. Dr Mitchell sees traces of the influence of Jeremiah on the style of
Hasgai and Zechariah; see his commentary on these hooks in ICG. p. 101.

2 See Davidson in Gamb. Bible, pp. Ixv f.

3 In Gamb. Bible, p. xxxvi.

4 See his article 'The Date of Deuteronomy' in J.Th.S. vii. pp. 481 ff. and
the article ' Israel ' in Hastings' Diet. Eel. avd Ethics.

" Cf. Dr Peake, Jeremiah, i. p. 60, ' this is a tempting suggestion to one who
■would gladly claim an even fuller originality for Jeremiah.' Dr Peake, however, is
not convinced of the truth of Canon Kennett's theory.

§ 8] THE INFLUENCE OF JEREMIAH Ixxxvii

this interest may be seen in the large number of legends which clustered
around his name. An examination of some of these legends, however,
tends to shew that his reputation rested on his supposed authorship of
the book of Lamentations rather than on his prophetic writings \ Some
indeed of the traditions connected with his name would appear to
have arisen in quarters where there was very little real appreciation of
his religious teaching, if not actual ignorance : e.g. the legend that
Jeremiah carried away the tabernacle, the ark, and the altar of incense
from the Temple and hid them on Mount Sinai I It was Jeremiah
rather than any other of the prophets who came to be regarded in
much the same way as men in later ages regarded the Patron Saint of
the nation, as in the famous vision of Judas Maccabaeus before his
victorious encounter with Nicanor^. The same passage shews Jeremiah
in another similar aspect as engaged in constant intercession for the
people and the Holy City. Coming down to still later times it is
curious to notice the great reverence with which the prophet was re-
garded by Pliilo^

By the time of our Blessed Lord's earthly ministry Jeremiah had /

seemingly been exalted to a supreme place amongst the written prophets
(cf Matt. xvi. 14). This exaltation may have been due to the fact
that according to certain reckonings the book of Jeremiah occurs first
in the Canon of the prophets ^ In another passage (Matt, xxvii. 9) a
quotation from Zech. xi. 13 is attributed to Jeremiah possibly for the
same reason, i.e. Jeremiah's name was held to cover any extract from
the prophets. At the same time it should be remembered that the last
six chapters of Zech. are held by the majority of critics to have no
connexion with the first eight, or with the prophet whose name they
now bear. It is not without interest to recall the fact that the earliest
recorded attempt to divide up the book was made as long ago as 1632,
and then in order to avoid impugning the accuracy of the Gospel ascrip-
tion of the passaged But evidence of the high regard in which Jeremiah
was held in NT. times is not limited merely to casual references to him

^ This statement refers mainly to the popular conception of Jeremiah as ' the
■weeping prophet.' Cf. also the legend in the Talmud, wliich may be early, that to
dream of Jeremiah was a sign of coming misfortune (Berakhoth 57 b).

2 2 Mace. ii. 1 — 8 ; contrast Jer. iii. 16.

3 2 Mace. XV. 13 ff.
* De Cher. § 14.

^ Cf. J. Lightfoot on Matt, xxvii. 9.

® The attempt was made by Joseph Mede of Cambridge who tried to shew that
the later part of Zech. was written by Jeremiah. See G. A. Smith, The Twelve
Prophets, ii. 450.

Ixxxviii INTRODUCTION [§ 8

by name. His influence is to be discovered in much of our Lord's
own teaching, and in the hour before His passion it was to Jeremiah's
doctrine of the New Covenant that the Master went back most
naturally as a forecast of His own sacrificial work. So too in the
Apostolic Age, 'it is,' as Dean Stanley says, 'to Jeremiah, even more
than to Isaiah, that the writers... look back when they wish to describe
the Dispensation of the Spirit.' (Cf. Heb. viii. 8 fif., x. 16 f.)^

Perhaps, however, the influence of Jeremiah had the most important
results for the development of religion in the eff'ect which both his life
and his teaching had upon St Paul. This influence cannot be proved
by any direct evidence; but to a close student of the Old Testament
scriptures, such as Saul of Tarsus undoubtedly was, the teaching of
Jeremiah upon the spiritual nature of religion could not have been
passed by unnoticed. Whether St Paul was conscious of what he
owed to Jeremiah or not the debt was none the less incurred, and one
has only to compare passages such as Jer. iv. 4, ix. 25 f. with Gal. v., &c.
to see the close connexion between the thoughts of the writers, a
connexion which could hardly have been accidental. There was much
also in the lives of the two men which was similar. Both were conscious
that God had chosen them for His service even from their very birth
(Jer. i. 5 ; Gal. i. 15) ; both had a mission to those who were not of their
own race, and indeed the terms ' prophet of the nations ' and ' apostle
of the Gentiles' are practically synonymous; both had a passionate
love for their country (Jer. iv. 19, ix. 1; Eom. ix. — xi.); a'nd both
suff"ered constant persecution from those whom they loved. It has been
suggested by the present Bishop of Ely that St Paul regarded himself
as a second Jeremiah, or at least that he recognised the likeness between
his own experiences and those of the OT. prophet^. It would seem
therefore that there is justification for assuming that Jeremiah was one
of the great moulding influences upon St Paul.

The passages in NT. which shew the influence of Jeremiah are very
numerous; the following list is taken from the appendix to Westcott
and Hort's Greek Testament : Matt. ii. 18, Jer. xxxi. 15; vii. 22, xxvii.
15 and xiv. 14; xi. 29, vi. 16 (Heb.); xxi. 13, vii. 11 ; xxiii. 38, xxii.
5 and xii. 7. Mk. viii. 18, v. 21; xi. 17, vii. 11. Lk. xiii. 35, xxii.
5 and xii. 7; xix. 46, vii. 11. Acts vii. 42, vii. 18 (lxx.) and xix.
13; vii. 51, ix. 26 and vi. 10; xv. 16, xii. 15; xviii. 9 f., i. 8; xxvi.

1 Tlie Jewish Church, ii. 446.

^ F. H. Chase, Credibility of the Acts, p. 71. I am indebted to Dr Lock for this
reference.

§ 8] THE INFLUENCE OF JEREMIAH Ixxxix

17, i. 7 f. Eom. ix. 21, xviii. 6; ix. 22, 1. 7. 1 Cor. i. 31, ix. 24.
2 Cor. vi. 17, li. 45 (Heb.); x. 17, ix. 24. 1 Thes. ii. 4, xi. 20; iv. 5,
X. 25. 2 Thes. i. 8, x. 25. Heb. viii. 8—13, xxxi. 31—34; x. 16 f.,
xxxi. 33 f. Jas. v. 5, xii. 3; v. 7, v. 24. 1 Pet. i. 17, iii. 19. Apoc.
ii. 23, xvii. 10; vi. 15, iv. 29; vii. 17, ii. 13 and xxxi. 16; viii. 8, li.
25; X. 11, i. 10 and xxv. 30; xi. 5, v. 14; xiii. 10, xv. 2; xiv. 8, li.
7 f.; XV. 3, X. 10 (Heb.); xv. 4, x. 7 (Heb.); xvi. 1, x. 25; xvi. 12,
1. 38; xvii. 1 f., li. 13; xvii. 4, li. 7; xvii. 15, li. 13; xviii. 2, ix. 11;
xviii. 3, li. 7 and xxv. 16 f.; xviii. 4f., li. 6, 9, 45; xviii. 6, 1. 29; xviii.
8, 1. 34; xviii. 21, li. 63 f . ; xviii. 22 f., xxv. 10 (Heb.); xviii. 24, li.
49; XX. 9, xi. 15 and xii. 7; xx. 12 f., xvii. 10; xxi. 4, xxxi. 16; xxii.
12, xvii. 10.

In the Book of Common Prayer Jeremiah is read — with certain
omissions — as the first Lesson at Matins and Evensong fi-om August 9th
to 26th, and the following portions from it are used as Proper Lessons :
chh. V. at Matins and xxii. or xxxv. at Evensong on Trin. XVII. ;
ch. xxxvi. at Matins on Trin. XVIII. ; xxxvi. 1 — 18 at Matins on
Innocents' Day; i. 1 — 11 at Evensong on the Feast of the Conversion
of St Paul; xxvi. 8 — 16 at Evensong on St James' Day; iii. 12 — 19 at
Evensong on SS. Simon and Jude's Day. In addition to these passages
read in the Lessons, xxiii. 5 ff. is the Special Portion read as the Epistle
on Trin. XXV.; x. 24 (= Ps. vi. 1) is among the Sentences at the open-
ing of Matins and Evensong; and xvii. 5 is the basis of one of the
' curses ' in the Commination Service.

Chronological Table

The notices of time in OT. if they stood by themselves would be of
little value owing firstly to the difficulty of relating them to outside
events, and secondly to the fondness of the Hebrews for the use of round
numbers and approximate calculations. Fortunately the Assyrians
had an elaborate and most accurate system of chronology with which
OT. history can easily be related. Like the Greeks they designated
each year by the name of a certain officer and lists of these officers
have survived, often in duplicate, and their substantial accuracy has
been proved by comparing the dates which they record for certain
eclipses and other astronomical phenomena with the dates required by
modern astronomers. Wherever, then, Jewish and Assyrian history
touch we have means of discovering fixed dates from which the others
can be calculated.

xc INTRODUCTION

B.C.

c. 722. The Fall of Samaria.
c. 697. Manasseh (697—639).

639. JosiAH (639—608).
c. 630. Scythians begin to move.
626. Jeremiah's call.
621. Discovery of the Book of Law.
609. Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt (609—594).
608. Battle of Megiddo and death of Josiah.
608. Jehoahaz or Shallum reigns for three months and is then taken

to Egypt.
608. Jehoiakim or Eliakim (608—597).
c. 606. Fall of Nineveh and collapse of the Assyrian Empire.

605. Battle of Carchemish and defeat of Pharaoh Necho by the

Babylonians.
604. 7Ve6Mc^ac?re00ar, king of Babylon (604 — 561).
604. The writing of the Roll.

603. The destruction of the first Roll and the writing of the second.
c. 598. Jehoiakim rebels.
597. Death of Jehoiakim.
597. Jehoiachin reigns three months and is then taken to Babylon

on the Fall of Jerusalem.
597. Zedekiah or Mattaniah (597—58^).
594. Psammetichus II, king of Egypt (594 — 588).
593. Plans for revolt against Babylon.
588. Pharaoh Hophra, king of Egypt (588—569).
586. Capture and destruction of Jerusalem and second deportation

of the Jews.
561. Evil-merodach, king of Babylon (561 — 560), Release of

Jehoiachin.
538. Fall of Babylon\

^ Some of the dates in the above list are slightly different from those usually
given; in deciding on them I have followed the notices in Canon Johns' Ancient
Babylonia. The reign of Pharaoh Hophra is usually extended to 564 on the
assumption that his conqueror and successor, Amasis, allowed him to remain on
the throne, in name at least, until that date; since the article by Piehl in Zeitschrift
fiir Agypt. S. u. A. 1890, p. 9, this has generally been rejected and the reign of
Amasis II dated from the victory of Momemphis.

THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH.

Chapter I.
The Prophet's Call.

This introductory ch. which really begins with v. 4 in our present an-ange-
ment of the text {m. 1 — 3 being the title, not to the ch. but to the whole book)
gives an account of the call of Jeremiah, or of what has been fitly named his
' four-fold investiture' to the office of prophet. Some scholars look with suspicion
on this account of the call of Jeremiah and are disposed to question its
genuineness. Duhm, for example, refuses to admit that it comes from Jeremiah
himself, or even from the recollections of those who knew him. He would
bring the chapter down to the post-exilic period, mainly because it represents
the prophet as being set over the nations {i: 10), which, in his opinion, would
have been too lofty a claim for Jeremiah to have made on his own behalf;
neither could it have been attributed to him by Baruch, for to the latter he
was merely an Israelite prophet with a mission to his own people, but with
little interest in the affairs of other nations. These reasons seem to be quite
insufficient to bear the argument based upon them consisting as they do
mainly of assumptions. Even from the point of view of critics who deny the
objective reality of Jeremiah's call a treatment so drastic is not necessary.
Surely it is possible to argue that when the account was written the prophet
was looking back over the actual facts of his ministry, and in recording its
beginning he simply states its scope as afterwards revealed to him by the
progress of events and the gradual enlargement of the sphere of his activity.
Tojeject this account of Jeremiah's call, because it appears to magnify his im-
portance, shews a lack of insight into the working of the prophet's mind ; his
whole attitude towards his vocation makes it quite clear that it was only God's
appointment which made him undertake it and that he relied on the Divine
strength entirely for power and ability to fulfil it. The initial plea of un-
worthiness was, on Jeremiah's lips, no mere conventional utterance but came
from the very depths of the prophet's heart. To snch a man to become the
messenger of God was to accept an office whose importance did not admit of
degi'ees of comparison ; the geographical or ethnological limits of his mission
were mere details which could have had little consequence in his eyes. Another
argument in favour of the traditional position is that it would have been hard,
in view of the state of international affairs, for any prophet of Judah to avoid
being at the same time a prophet to the nations. When such a call came to
Jeremiah he would see in it nothing strange or unusual; Jehovah was the God
of all the earth, and his own appointment to be His messenger to the nations

B. 1

2 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [l i

was not without parallel in the lives of his predecessors ; his heart must have
glowed within him as he realised that he was treading in the steps of Amos
and Isaiah.

In the books which bear the names of these two prophets the narrative as
it has come down to us, for some reason or other, does not begin with an
account of the call of the prophet. Such a record seems desirable as the
opening of a prophetic book, for the office of a prophet like that of an apostle
is one which no man taketh to himself but only as he is called of God : it is
fitting therefore quite apart from chronological reasons that a work of this
nature should begin with an account of the writer's qualifications ^

The ch. may be analysed as follows :
(a) Introductory title. 1 — 3.
(6) The prophet's call. 4—6.

(c) Jeremiah's consecration. 7 — 10.

(d) The sign of the almond tree. 11 — 12.

(e) The sign of the seething caldron. 13 — 16.

(/) Jehovah co?nmands the prophet to be strong. 17 — 19.

I. 1 The wordsof Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests

I. 1 — 3. The ascription of the book to Jeremiah and the date of
the prophet's call. The first two vv. are evidently the original super-
scription and V. 3 was added later so as to extend the scope of the title.
It is to be noticed that the title, even in its extended form, does not
include Jeremiah's prophetic activity subsequent to the fall of Jeru-
salem.

1. words. The only other prophetic book which has this heading
is Amos. LXX. is fuller and has the singular t6 prjiJ-a, which is much
the more usual form. Kimchi and other Rabbinic commentators ex-
plained the plural as representing the fact that incidentsj;S.^La^ pro-
phecies are included in the book — but such inclusions are not peculiar
to Jeremiah. 'iTis' possible that there is a reference to xxxvi. 2.

Jeremiah. Various explanations have been given of the meaning of
the prophet's name. Schmidt {Enc. Bib. 2366) suggests that it repre-
sents -in^ no^^ ' Jehovah hurls,' Ball and Wellhausen connect it with
the root nm 'to fourid,' and others think that it means 'Jehovah
looseneth' (the womb). The name occurs not infrequently in OT. :
e.g. xxxv. 3 ; 2 K. xxiii. 31, xxiv. 18 ; Neh. xii. 1, 12, &c.

Hilkiah. Probably not the priest mentioned in 2 K. xxii. in spite of
the opinion of St Clem. Alex, and St Jerome. There is no evidence
that Jeremiah belonged to the Jerusalem priesthood. In the case of
seven of the prophets (viz. Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk,
Haggai and Malachi) no table of descent is given, possibly because they
were of humble origin. In the case of Zechariah the descent is traced

1 Cf. Hamilton, The People of God, i. p. 160.

I. i-s] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 3

that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin : 2 to whom the
word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon,
king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It came
also in the days of Jehoiakim the sou of Josiah, king of Judah,
unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah,
king of Judah ; unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in
the fifth month.

4 Now the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 5 Before

back two stages, and in the case of Zeplianiah further still (see J. M. P.
Smith, Zeph. &c. p. 182).

of the priests. Heb. n*3nDn p. The wording of the phrase is
strange, and Cornill accounts for it by supposing that Jeremiah, though
a priest by birth, never exercised the office. A better explanation is to
take the words as referring to Anathoth and to regard them as a post-
exilic gloss which has been incorporated into the text.

Anathoth. See Introd. p. xxviii. The name is possibly connected
with the goddess 'Anath, traces of whose name occur also in Authothi-
jah (1 Ch. viii. 24); Beth-anatli (Josh,, Jud.) and Beth-anoth (Josh.
XV. 59).

land of Benjamin. The fact that Jeremiah was a member of the
border tribe of Benjamin may account for his strong sympathy with the
Northern Kingdom.

2. the Lord. The word Lord when printed in capitals in AV.
and RV. represents the Divine Personal Name which in hymns and in
popular speech is rendered Jehovah. This word is the result of a com-
bination of the consonants mn'' (the Personal Name), with the vowels
of Adonai (Lord) the word which the Jews generally substitute for it
in reading the scriptures. The actual pronunciation has been lost,
though many scholars now use the form 'Yahweh' (see further Dr
McNeile on Ex. iii. 14).

king of Judah. The use of this phrase is suspicious, though not
necessarily a sign of late date. Nebuchadrezzar, in his inscription,
describes himself as king of Babylon ; but inscriptions were written for
strangers, the prophetic books for the Jews themselves.

in the thirteenth year. This reference fixes the exact date of the
call of the prophet (c. 636 e.g.), and there remained still forty years
during which he was to exercise his ministry before the final fall of the
kingdom. J. Lightfoot points out that as God sent Moses to teach the
people for forty years before the entrance into Canaan, so He sent Jere-
miah for forty years before they were banished from it.

3. efeventh year. The Hebrew for eleventh, !T!'?'^"'?''fP, is a late
form found only in Jer., Ez., Dt. i. 3, the Priestly code and ' passages
undoubtedly post-exilic, so that it may very well be a loan word from
the Babylonian' (= istin or isten), Ges.-K. p. 290, note 1.

4 — 6. God's call and the prophet's hesitation. For a discussion

1—2

4 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [i. 5, 6

I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou earnest
forth out of the womb I sanctified thee ; I have appointed thee
a prophet unto the nations. 6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God !

of the call of Jeremiah and a comparison with the call of other servants
of God, see Introd. pp. xxix f , xxxviii.

4. unto me. A sudden introduction of the 1st person. Stade
{ZA TW. 1903, pp. 153 f.) thinks that this v. is a subsidiary heading.

5. formed. The root meaning of the word is 'to shape' (as a
potter) ; it is used of the making of Adam (Gen. ii. 7 — 8) ; but very
often the origin of the word is ignored and it is applied to the creation
of light (Is. xlvii. 7), summer and winter (Ps. Ixxiv. 17) and the spirit
of man (Zech. xii. 1).

knew. Of God in Am. iii. 2 ; Hos. xiii. 5 ; Nah. i. 7 ; Ps. i. 6,
xxxi. 8, cxliv. 3. The reference is not to intellectual knowledge but
to selection for a definite piece of service. The writer of one of the
Psalms acknowledged that God's eye was upon him even in his mother's
womb (cxxxix. 13 — 16), and Job pleaded with God on this very
ground, ' thine hands have formed me and fashioned me,' &c, (x. 8 £f.).
This mention of the Divine foreknowledge was doubtless meant to en-
courage the youthful prophet ; He who had begun a good work in him
would surely not desert him until it was perfected (cf Nu. vi. ; Is.
xlix. 1, 5 ; Lk. i, 15; Gal. i. 15). It is interesting to note that Nabo-
nidus made a similar claim; in one of his inscriptions he says that
while he was yet ' in the bowels of his mother ' Sin and Nergal gave to
him ' the lot of sovereignty.' (See Ball, Light from the Ancient East,
p. 208.)

sanctified. This word as originally used conveyed no idea of ' holi-
ness ' in the later sense of the word, but merely that the person or
thing was set apart or consecrated to a particular purpose. This is the
only place in OT. where the word is' used of a prophet (cf Ecclus. xlv.
4, xlix. 7), though other parts of the verb are used of priests (Ex. xxviii.
3, 41, &c.) and of the setting apart of the keepers of the ark (1 S. vii. 1).
Our Lord speaks of Himself as sanctified by the Father (Jn. x. 36).

unto the nations. Though we may not agree with Duhm (see Introd.
to the ch.), yet it is very strange that Jeremiah, whose message was
mainly to the people of Judah and Israel and whose interests and
affections were so markedly bound up in the nation, should be thus
early designated as a prophet to the nations. Before even the bare
mention of Judah or Jerusalem it is declared that his mission is an
universal one. As early as the time of Calvin the peculiarity of this
was noticed. 'It seems strange,' he says, 'that he was given a prophet
to the nations... for he neither travelled to the Ninevites, as Jonah did
(Jon. iii. 3), nor travelled into other countries, but spent his labours
only among the tribe of Judah.' The Targum paraphrases the words
so as to avoid any semblance of a promise of the nations sharing in the
comfortable things of the prophet, ' I have appointed thee as prophet
to make the Gentiles drink the cup of cursing.'

1. 6-9] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 5

behold, I cannot speak : for I am a child. 7 But the Lord said
unto me, Say not, I am a child : for Ho whomsoever I shall send
thee thou shalt go, and whatsoever I shall command thee thou
shalt speak. 8 Be not afraid because of them : for I am with
thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. 9 Then the Lord put forth

^ Or, on xohatsoever errand

6. Ah, Lord God ! This cry of the prophet becomes very fami-
liar as an expression of pain and nervous dread (cf. iv. 10, xiv. 13,
xxxii. 17).

/ cannot speak. Like Moses (Ex. iv. 10), and possibly St Paul if
we can accept the statement of his detractors (2 Cor. x. 10; cf 1 Cor.
ii. 1). Demosthenes, according to Plutarch, had to overcome great
natural impediments before he became an orator.

child (lxx. v€WT6pos, zu jung). The Heb. word ("^5) is used of a
new-born child (1 S. iv. 21), but also of Abraham's trained servants
(Gen. xiv. 21), of a man of marriageable age (Gen. xxxiv. 19), and of
Absalom when grown up (2 S. xviii. 5, 12), so that it does not neces-
sarily refer to anyone very young. Calvin, who adopts the translation
puer, takes the word metaphorically and pours scorn on St Jerome for
saying that the prophet was only a boy when he began his ministry. It
is diiiicult to know why Jeremiah pleaded his youth unless it was that
he doubted the form in which the Divine inspiration would work. His
words seem to imply a conception of the prophetic office different from
that which had been normal in Israel, and which regarded the seer as
a merely passive instrument in the hands of God.

7 — 10. ' Whom God calls He equips.'

7. Jeremiah was not making excuses in order to avoid his commis-
sion, and so God does not reprove him as He reproved Moses (Ex. iv.
14). His lack of experience will not unfit him for the prophetic office,
for God Himself will direct him both as to the object and the contents
of his message. The case of Jeremiah illustrates one of God's constant
principles ; never to entrust His servants with tasks which are beyond
their powers will they but take advantage of that Divine inspiration
which is ever at their command. 'Let him who speaks speak as the
oracles of God' (1 Pet. iv. 11; cf. Ex. vii. 2; Dt. xviii. 18; Matt,
xxviii. 20).

8. Be not afraid. Cf Life of B. F. Westcott, 11. 92 f

them has no antecedent ; the reference is to whomsoever. ,

/ am with thee. When God sends forth His servants He goes with
them (cf Acts xiii. 4 with i>v. 9 and 52).

saith the Lord. Lit. ^It is the whisper of Jehovah! This phrase
almost invariably comes at the end of revelations to the prophets, though
in two cases it appears at the beginning (viz. Is. Ivi. 8 ; Ps. ex. 1).

9. put forth his hand. The language of this v. is not intended to
be taken literally ; it was by anthropomorphisms such as this that the
ancients triumphed over the difficulty of a transcendent God. ' God

6 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [i. 9-1 1

his hand, and touched my mouth ; and the Lord said unto me,
Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth : 10 see, I have this
day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck
up and to break down, and to destroy and to overthrow ; to
build, and to plant.

11 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Jeremiah, what seest thou ? And I said, I see a rod of ^an almond

^ Heb. shaked.

as God,' says Feuerbach, ' the infinite, universal, non-anthropomorphic
being of the understanding, has no more significance in religion than a
fundamental general principle has for a special science ; it is merely an
ultimate point of support, as it were, the mathematical point of religion'
(quoted by Aubrey Moore, Lux Mundi, p. 91). The same difficulty is
met with amongst the Greeks and is solved in very much the same
way : ' The old mythology was allied to sense, and the distinction of
matter and mind had not as yet arisen ' (Jowett, Introd. to Theaetetus,
IV. 156).

touched. Lit. 'caused it to touch.' Here the object of the touch is
to inspire, in Is. vi. 7 it is to purify.

/ have put my tvords in thy mouth. As though they were some-
thing material. (Cf Ez. ii. 9, iii. 3, where the prophet eats the actual
woi'ds in the form of a book.)

10. Cornill suggests that the best explanation of this v. is to be
found by comparing it with v. 14, vi. 11, xxiii. 29; and Is. Iv. 10 — 11.

set thee. ' The word used suggests the idea of set ivith authority or
make an overseer' (Driver) (cf Gen. xxxix. 4f and .Jer. xl. 5, 7). God
here appoints Jeremiah to be His viceroy on earth, ' der Statthalter des
himmlischen Grosskonigs' (Duhm).

to pluck up &c. All the words here used imply from their sound
a certain amount of violence in the process ; they are used in several
other passages of the book in varying combinations : viz. xviii. 7, xxiv.
6, xxxi. 28, xlii. 10 and xlv. 4. The use in xxxi. 28 is interesting, as
in that passage it is God Himself who is to perform the various acts
which are elsewhere ascribed to the prophet.

to build, and to plant. Jeremiah's work was not to be merely one of
destruction, he was to clear the ground of ancient abuses and to sow
the seed of a brighter future.

11 f This section and that which follows contain narratives of
two visions or symbols from which the prophet learned the imminence
of the Divine judgement. (For a discussion of the nature of these
and similar visions and the place which they occupied in Jeremiah's
ministry, see Introd. pp. Ixxif.)

11. what seest thou 1 A similar formula is used in Am. vii. 8, viii.
2 ; Zech. iv. 2, &c. Jeremiah, like the writer of the Song of Solomon
(see especially ii. 11 — 13), evidently had great sympathy with nature in

I. 11-13] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 7

tree. 12 Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen :
for I ^ watch over my word to perform it. 13 And the word of
the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou?

1 Heb. shoked.

its various moods and welcomed the first sign of the coming spring'.
But under the Divine tuition it bore for him a message not of hope,
but of warning, such as was entirely foreign to the light-hearted and
innocent singer of Canticles. In the natural world the sprouting of
the almond may mean that

'Winter's rains and ruins are over
And all the season of snows and sins'

but in the moral world towardswhich the prophet's eyes were con-
stantly turned it suggested only a note oT doom. ' As to Amos the
fruits of autumn suggested the approach of wintry desolation, so to
Jeremiah the almond first of all trees to flower suggested the advent
of another season.' Edghill on Am. viii. 2.

rod. The word is used elsewhere of an actual rod (Gen. xxx. 37 ;
Hos. iv. 12; Zech. xi. 7, &c.), and Kimchi and some of the older
interpreters therefore looked upon it here as a 'symbol of correction.'

almond tree. In Palestine the almond tree was, and is, the 'har-
binger of spring ' amongst the flowers (cf Pliny, Hist. Nat. xvi. 25 ;
Tristram, Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 332)-. Its Hebrew name means
'that which is ajwakening,' and comes from the same root as the verb
used in the next v. 7".

12. / ivatch i^PP), shoked. The Hebrew contains a play upon the
word for almond tree 0W\ shuked. Similar instances are not un-
common in the prophets (e.g. Am. viii. 2)1 The word occurs again in
xxxi. 28, xliv, 27 of God's activity, and in v. 6 of the sinister watch-
fulness of a wolf on the look-out for its prey.

13 — 16. The vision of the boiling caldron.

13, the second time. Evidently the two visions are to be closely con-

1 For a note on ' Jeremiah and Nature,' see pp. 10 ff. Browning has used the
almond blossom and the coming of spring somewhat in a similar way, possibly
borrowing from this passage. As Palma in Sordello longs for the appearing of the
unknown lover who is to share with her the task of uniting Italy she seems to see
a prophecy of his coming in the approaching spring :

' Waits he not the waking year ?
His almond blossoms must be honey-ripe
By this ; to welcome him, fresh runnels stripe
The thawed ravines; because of him, the wind
Walks like a herald.'

2 ' In the Phrygian cosmogony an almond figured as the father of all things,
perhaps because its delicate lilac blossom is one of the first heralds of the spring,'
Frazer, Adonis, i. pp. 263 f.: cf. Pausan. vii. xvii. 11; Hippol. Refutatio, v. 9;
Arnob. Adv. Nationes, v. 6.

3 Bishop Lightfoot has collected a number of examples of somewhat similar
word-plays in his commentary on Phil. iii. 2: e.g. 'the saying of Diogenes that
the school of Euclides was not axo^V but x°^V ^^^ ^^^ discourse of Plato not
diaTpi^T) but KOiJaTpi^-f) (Diog. Laert. vi. 24).'

8 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [i. 13, h

And I said, I see a seething caldron ; and the face thereof is
from the north. 14 Then the Lord said unto me, Out of the
north evil ^ shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.

* Heb. shall be opened.

nected ; it is quite possible that they formed a second call to Jeremiah
and so he included them in this account of his earliest experiences
with which their connexion may have been spiritual rather than chrono-
logical. A recent writer says that ' It is more probable that the two
visions of the ahiiond-rod and the pot occurred much later than the
prophet's call. They may have been God's message to him when the
forecast of the Scythian invasion had been proved mistaken, and when
the true enemy from the North was just appearing on the scene.'
(Holscher, Die Fro/eten, pp. 283 ff.)

a seething caldron. The word is used of a larg^e cooking-pot
sufficient to contain a meal for several "people (2 K. iv. 38lf ), also
of a wash-pot (Ps. Ix. 10, cviii. 10), and it is evidently nut re-
stricted to earthen vessels (Ex. xxxviii. 3 ; Ez. xxiv. 6). Seething is
lit. 'blown-upon' : the fire under the pot is blown upon and therefore
it boils.

the face thereof is from the north. The exact explanation of the
symbol is difficult though the meaning, as stated in the next v., is
quite plain. Two lines of explanation, have been_suggesfed by different
scholars, (a) The contents of the caldron represent the invading
force, "^ the ominous North was once more boiling Hke a caldron'
(G. A. Smith, Jerusalem, 11. 228) — so Keil and many other critics.
{b) Duhm, however, takes a different line; he suggests that the
caldron was laid on a rougli_oyen made of stones, one side, that
towards the North>__being open and the fuel placed there. The idea is
then the same as that found in Ez. xxiv. 3—14; the caldron is Judah
and the fire beneath is blown upon from the North ; the contents of
the caldron Vhich are made to boil will then be represented by the
inhabitants who are about to go into exile. The latter suggestion,
which requires a slight change in the Hebrew, has been adopted by
I several modern scholars, and it must be admitted that it avoids the
'difficulty of deciding what is meant hjjheface of a caldron.

14. the north. In Jeremiah the north^ is almosf a synonym for the
coming invader, and so too in JoeFiT. 20 '"the northern army of locusts'
must be a metaphorical expression for an invading army, since locusts
come from S. and SE. (cf. Is. xiv. 31 'a smoke out of the north').
An army invading Palestine from Asia would do so by way of n. Syria,
and so the frequent experience of the Israelites had led them to look
upon the North as the quarter from which troubles usually arose.
There was always something mysterious and even supernatural about
this quarter to the Jews, and it may be that this feeling was derived
from their Semitic ancestors, for the gods of Assyria were said to dwell
in the /ar Nm-th. (Cf Is. xiv. 13 with Wade's note; and Ps. xlviii. 2

I. 15-17] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 9

15 For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,
saith the Lord ; and they shall come, and they shall set every
one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and
against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the
cities of Judah. 16 And I will ^ utter my judgements against
them touching all their wickedness ; in that they have forsaken
me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped
the works of their own hands. 17 Thou therefore gird up thy

^ Or, speak with them of my judgements

with Kirkpatrick's note. See also Enoch Ixxvii. 3 where the North
contains ' the garden of righteousness,' i.e. Paradise \)

15 f. 'Viewed in one light war is the boiling caldron of human
passion, upset by hazard, and bringing only ruin in its course; in the
other it is God sitting in judgement, with the kings of the earth as
His assessors, solemnly pronouncing sentence upon the guilty.' Payne
Smith.

15. families. In the earlier writers this word was restricted in
its use to tlie divisions of the people of Israel. It corresponds to a
'clan' or tribe-division rather than to what is generally understood as
a 'family?" (Cf.W. 'Robertson Smith, Rel. SemJ p. 258 &c.)

kingdoms. This passage would suit an invasion by the Baby-
lonians much better than a Scythian incursion. The Great King would
assemble his subject kings and all would march onward as a single
army : cf Is. xvii. 12 — 14.

set.. -his throne. As a sign of conquest and of judgement. Duhm
sees in this v. the influence of the ' later dogmatic eschatology ' which
foretold the gathering of all nations to Jerusalem. Cf Sibyll. Orac.
III. 67 f :

'In a ring round the city the accursed kings shall place
Each one his throne with his infidel people by him.'

16. God is to be known in the coming of vengeance, a thought
often found in Ezekiel.

burned incense. Lit. to cause smoke or odour to go up. The
Hebrew word ("iDp : cf. Assyr. kutru - smoke) has no necessary con-
nexion with the burning of incense which is generally considered to
have been a comparatively late introduction into Hebrew ritual. See
on vi. 20.

17 — 19. Jeremiah is encouraged to be strong and zealous in spite
of the certain and constant opposition with which he will meet. God
is calling him to a life-long warfare.

gird up thy loins. Girding, when used metaphorically, combines

^ 'The North psy is divided into three parts: one for men, one for waters
(nSV an overflowing), and clouds and darkness (jSV to conceal), while one contains
Paradise (|DV to reserve).' Charles.

10 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [i. 17-19

loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee :
be not dismayed at them, lest I dismay thee before them. 18 For,
behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron
pillar, and brasen walls, against the whole land, against the kings
of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof,
and against the people of the land. 19 And they shall fight
against thee ; but they shall not prevail against thee : for I am
with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.

the ideas of strength and preparedness : loosening of the loins, on the
other hand, means weakness and surrender (cf. Is. xlv. 1). The loins
were looked upon as the seat of strength (Dt. xxxiii. 11; 1 K. xii.
10, &c.) ; and of keenest pain (Nah. ii. 11; Is xxi. 3).

be not dismayed &c., 'quail not, lest I let thee quail,' Streane.
Lit. means ^be shattered,' and is so used of broken bows (li. 56). The
word is a favourite one with Jeremiah who almost invariably uses it,
as here, in a metaphorical sense.

18. iron pillar. Cornill omits this phrase (with LXX.) as being
inconsistent with a siege.

iron... brasen. A very frequent combination to represent firmness
and enduraneg: Dt. xxviii. 48: Mic. iv. 13; and cf Dan. ivri2.

kings... princes &c. Jeremiah's messages were for every class and
for all the people. In the warfare which he had to carry on he would
need the strength of a fortified city, and at the same time he would
have to experience the isolation involved in a siege.

19. Confidence in another is the most certain refuge from fear.

Additional Note on i. 11.
Jeremiah and Nature.

When we speak of Nature we use the word with different connotations.
We may mean by Nature the world of Natural Laws, or the world of Natural
Beauty ; that is to say Nature may be regarded from a scientific or from an
aesthetic point of view. Further still. Nature may be looked upon from a
merely utilitarian standpoint, as the power which provides man with food and
raiment ; though this latter division might perhaps be included in the 'scientific '
aspect of Nature.

Ancient \vriters, whether they emphasised the scientific or the aesthetic
side of Nature, were in the habit of personifying it, of giving to Nature a
separate existence over against God on the one side and man on the other.
In the prophets the Natural creation is often spoken of as though it were
possessed of conscious life, and even St Paul uses the same kind of language
(cf Rom. viii. 19 ff.). The Natural creation, for example, can be appealed to as
the judge between God and Israel (Is. i. 2 flF.) ; or as a witness for the prosecution
when the nation appears before the tribunal of the Most High (Mic. vi. 1 ff).

THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 11

Yet at the same time there is no small amount of sympathy between Nature
and man ; and man's feelings are often represented (by what Ruskin called
'the pathetic fallacy') as being produced into it (see note on p. 45).

In the strict sense of the word, Jeremiah, like the other prophets, had no
scientific conception of the Natural world, nor indeed did he in any way approach
such a .conception. The prophets looked upon the ordinances of Nature as
being due to the direct action of God Himself, and as their tendency was to
emphasise the grandeur and impressiveness of Nature rather than its beauty,
they saw the potcer, rather than the loce of God, shining through the veil of
His creation ; at the same time they fully recognised the bounteous goodness
of Him who gave the rain and fruitful harvests. The prophets were men of
action rather than men of speculation ; they were faced yviih problems which
were intensely real and calling for solution, and these problems were not
problems in the world of thought and imagination only, but in the world
around them. The result was that they tended to exercise the moral powers
rather than the intellectual or aesthetic, to realise the presence of God's activity
in Nature, rather than to seek to know how it was exercised therein, much less
to lay bare their souls to the waves of beauty and loveliness which were ever
floAving through and from it.

The failure of the prophets to differentiate between God and the laws by
which He acts led in some cases to a belief in doctrines which to the mind of a
later and more enlightened age seem to be distinctly dangerous, as for example,
the doctrine that the sins of parents might be visited on their children by a
deliberate interference of God to that end (see pp. liv f. and cf. Adam, Religious
Teachers of Greece, pp. 22 ff.). Another inadequate view of Nature which
arose from the prophetic ignorance of scientific laws, — a view, however, which
was not in itself dangerous, — was their conception that the earth was the
centre of the universe, fixed and immovable, whilst the heavens were constantly
changing. This conception, of course, lasted till the Middle Ages, it was shared
in by our Lord Himself in His life here on earth, and is still reflected in phrases
like ' sunrise ' and ' sunset.' This same distinction between ' the heavens ' and
' the earth ' which regarded the latter as fixed and the former as in motion was
a tenet of the Aristotelian philosophy. One of the gi'eat changes wrought
by the acceptance of the Copeniicau theory was that it made it possible
to do away mth this distinction, and to look upon the earth as being of one
piece with the heavens and no less divine than they (cf. C. C. J. Webb,
History of Philosophy, p. 142).

Jeremiah himself, when compared \vith the other prophets, must be ad-
mitted to have had a much greater appreciation of the more tender aspects of
Nature, especially of animate Nature, and he constantly draws illustrations fi'om
it^. He was evidently a close observer of bird life and several times refers to

^ Cf. T. R. Glover, The Jems of History, p. 31 : — ' Jeremiah is obviously
country-bred. He might have beeu surprised, if he had been told how often he
illustrates his thought from bird and beast and country life — and always with a
certain life-like precision and a perfectly clear sympathy.'

12 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

the flight of birds across the heavens, he admired their wonderful instinct
(viii. 7), he had watched their habits closely (xii. 9), and his interest followed
them even into their captivity (v. 27) ; at the same time he seems to have had
no ear for the music of their songs (cf. Cant. ii. 12). Nor did the wider aspects
of Nature leave Jeremiah untouched, and he was ever alive to the changing
march of the seasons. Yet with all this appreciation of the softer and gentler
moods of Nature there went something that was grim and harsh, and the pre-
dominant impression left on our minds by the imagery of the book is one of
tumult and horror. Descriptions of the sea dashing and raging against its
bounds, of the mountains and hills rocking in the throes of a mighty earthquake,
of the whole land desolate, seem more akin to the mind of Jeremiah than the
soothing picture of the budding almond tree and the silent approach of spring.

CHAPTERS n.— VI.
First Collection of Jeremiah's Prophecies.

The prophecies contained in these chh. refer most probably to the period
between the prophet's call (c. 626 B.C.) and a date shortly after Josiah's reforma-
tion (f. 620 B.C.). They appear to form a single collection, though by no means
confined to a single discoui'se, and, in spite of the fact that matter is contained
in them which must come from a somewhat later time, they may be taken as
typical of Jeremiah's earliest preaching. According to the account contained
in ch. xxxvi. none of Jeremiah's prophecies had been collected in writing before
604 B.C. and so it need not be supposed that chh. ii. — vi. represent the exact
words of the discourses as originally delivered ; doubtless the prophet's re-
collections were influenced, more or less unconsciously, by the subsequent issue
of events. At the same time it seems cei'tain that some amount of editorial
matter has been added, either by Baruch or by some other scribe.

The contents of the chh. may be conveniently divided into the following
sections :

An appeal to the nation's past. ii. — iii. 5.

An invitation to the exiled Northern tribes to return, iii. 6 — 18. ♦

A vision of penitence and restoration, iii. 19 — iv. 4.

A description of the coming doom. iv. 5 — 31.

The utter moral depravity of Jerusalem, v.

The invader and his invincible might, vi.

THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 13

Chapters H. 1 — HI. 5.
An Appeal to the Nation's Past.

This passage contains a short summary of the history of Israel written from
the prophetic point of view, and in it is emphasised the striking contrast between
the patience and faithfulness of God on the one hand, and the continued sin
and unfaithfulness of Israel on the other. Jeremiah begins his appeal by
turning to the earliest days of the nation's history, the time of its ransom from
Egypt, and it is to be noticed that in the prophet's eyes the period of the
exodus and wandering in the wilderness was one of true and loving intercourse
between Jehovah and His people ; he seems to have no knowledge or no re-
collection of the stories of constant strife and backsliding on the part of the
nation such as are portrayed in the Pentateuch (see below for a further discussion
of this point). From this stage of 'faithfulness' the fathers soon fell away and
forgetting the goodness of God plunged into all kinds of superstitions and de-
based forms of worship ; they who had knowledge of the true God forsook Him,
whereas the very heathen were faithful to their gods which were mere vanity
and nothingness. It is not necessary to suppose, however, that Jeremiah is
condemning actual apostasy, the entire desei'tion of Jehovah in favour of
strange gods ; it is more probable that he had in view a \videspi-ead adoption
of customs of worship and ideas in regard to Jehovah which were equivalent
to a virtual apostasy. The allegiance of Israel was merely nominal, the people
still addressed their God as Jehovah, but in their hearts they thought of Him
as having the attributes of one of the local Baalim. Another point in this
psissage which deserves attention is the attitude of the prophet towards the
exiled members of the Northern Kingdom. Jeremiah has a deep love for all
Israel, he does not limit God's favour to Jerusalem and Judah only, and the
coming restoration is to include every true worshipper of Jehovah. (For the
same doctrine in other prophets cf. Is. xi. 12 ff.; Ez. xxxvii. 16flF. ; &c.) In
the last sub-section of which this division consists (iii. 1 — 5) Jeremiah likens
the sinfulness of Israel to that of an erring wife. Israel is Jehovah's wife boimd
to Him by the covenant at Sinai, Israel has been false to her Husband and
yet He longs for her return.

One question of considerable importance which is raised by this section
I'emains to be discussed. Jeremiah, following Amos (ii. 10, v. 25) and Hosea
(ii. 16 f), regards the wilderness period as a time in which the closest union
existed between Jehovah and Israel— a golden age at the beginning of the
history of the nation such as the Greeks imagined for their own history. Such
a conception is hard to reconcile, however, with the accounts of the wanderings
contained in the Pentateuch, and also in the later prophets. Ezekiel, for
example, looks upon the people as rebellious from the very first (ii. 3, xx. 13 fi".).
Some passages in Hosea seem also to look upon the exodus in a less favourable
light (ix. 10, xi. 1 — 3). Various attempts to explain and reconcile these ap-

14 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [ii. i, 2

parently inconsistent statements have been made by different scholars. Graf,
for example, thinks that the wilderness period was looked upon as a time of
brightness only by contrast to the utter gloom of the last years of the monarchy ;
whilst Keil would limit the prophet's reference to the time which elapsed
between the departure from Egypt and the covenant at Sinai, he would also
draw a somewhat artificial and unnatural distinction between murmurings
against Moses and apostasy from Jehovah.
The section may be divided as follows :

(a) The appeal to the exodus, ii. 1 — 3.

(6) The ingratitude and folly of Judah. 4 — 13.

(c) The penalty of forsaking God and trusting in man. 14—19.

(f/) Israels incurable sin. 20 — 25.

(e) The folly of idolatry. 26—28.

(/) The reasons for IsraeVs misfortunes. 29 — 37.

(g) The question of the divorced wife. iii. 1 — 5,

II. 1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 Go,
and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying. Thus saith the Lord,
I remember 4br thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine
espousals ; how thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a

^ Or, concerning

II. 1 — 3. An appeal to the nation to return to its former love to
Jehovah as shewn at the time of the exodus.

2. Jerusalem. As the religious as well as the political capital
Jerusalem was the natural place for a prophet to make an appeal to
the whole nation. It ^vas recommended by tradition and situation
alike. (Cf Amos at Bethel.)

kindness. The Hebrew word ipi^ chesed is generally used either
of the feelings (a) of a man towards his fellow ; (b) of God to man in
condescending to His creatures and their needs. The use as here to
describe the attitude of Israel towards Jehovah is very rare, though
there is possibly another example in Hos. vi. 4 'your piety is like
a morning cloud.' Some commentators find themselves unable to take
the expression in this way, and in spite of the context, make it refer
to God's attitude towards Israel.

youth. Of iii. 4.

espousals. The conception of Israel as the bride of Jehovah is
adopted from Hos. ii. 2 — 20. The Semites were in the habit of looking
upon the god of the nation as wedded to the land, and upon tlie members
of the nation as the fruit of their union. Cf Is. liv. 5 and see W.
Robertson Smith, Prophets", pp. ITOff. The same metaphor purified
of all heathen associations is found in NT. where St Paul speaks of the
Church as the bride of Christ (Eph. v. 25).

wilderness... not sown. Oriental writers are fond of laying stress on

II. ,-4] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 15

land that was not sown. 3 Israel was holiness unto the Lord,
the firstfruits of his increase : all that devour him shall be held
guilty ; evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord.

4 Hear ye the word of the Lord, 0 house of Jacob, and all

the distinction between the wilderness and the cultivated land : cf.
Omar Khayyam, Rubaiyat, x. :

' some strip of herbage strown
That just divides the desert from the sown.'

The wilderness it should be remembered was something more than
mere ' desert sand and empty air ' ; it was the usual place for pasturing
the flocks (cf xxiii. 10 ; Joel ii. 22). The vegetation of the desert
was such as grew of itself, hence the distinction from ' the sown ' or
cultivated land.

3. holiness. The word has no necessary moral content and its
use in the present context merely lays stress on the fact that Israel
was God's consecrated property and therefore entitled to His protection
and separated to His service.

the firstfruits of his increase. In what sense can this term be applied
to Israel ? Philo often speaks of Israel as the first-fruits of humanity.
Driver explains it as meaning that the nation was Jehovah's 'first-
fruits from the field of the world, sacred to Him (Ex. xxiii. 19) and
consequently not to be touched with impunity.' But Avhilst not wishing
to deny that Jeremiah cherished the hope that the other nations were
destined to become the worshippers of the God of Israel, yet at the
same time this interpretation seems to me to read too much into the
text. The prophets in their choice of figures were, as a rule, influenced
by one main idea and ignored all side issues \ In this case the only
idea in the writer's mind is that Israel is God's possession (see above)
in just the same sense as are the first-fruits ; there is no reason for
attributing to him the secondary idea that Israel is therefore an earnest
of the gathering in of the rest of the nations. According to the law
the first-fruits had to be offered to God before the harvest could be
used for the ordinary purposes of life (Lev. xxiii. 10 — 14). The same
expression is used of the Christian Church by St James (i. 18).

guilty. The Hebrew word is used with three distinct though
related meanings. It is used (a) of one who has committed an offence ;
(6) of one who has been found guilty of committing an offence, even
though there has been a miscarriage of justice ; (c) of one who bears
the punishment of an offence and is therefore presumed to have com-
mitted it. The last sense is the one required here as the stress is on
the punishment (cf Lev. xxii. 10, 16).

4 — 13. In the previous section Jeremiah seems to linger over the
picture of Israel's youth with a tender and pathetic longing : that the

1 Cf. Jiilicher, Bie Gleichnissreden Jesu, i. p. 317; and J. W. Hunkin, The
Synoptic Parables in J.Th.S. xvi. pp. 372 ff.

16 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [ii. 4-6

the families of the house of Israel : 5 thus saith the Lord, What
unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they are
gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become
vain ? 6 Neither said they, Where is the Lord that brought us
up out of the land of Egypt ; that led us through the wilderness,
through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought

glories of those days should ever be restored is a wish almost beyond
hope of fulfilment — and yet the nation is still the same, it is still
God's chosen people. From these bright visions the prophet now turns
to the ingratitude and sin which soon blotted them out, and in the
light of the great ideal of the past the actual state of the nation seems
the more lamentable. Jehovah's appeal to the nation in v. 5 is very
like Mic. vi. 3 ' 0 my people, wliafc have I done unto thee? and wherein
have I wearied thee? testify against me.' In each case the challenge
was unanswerable because God was the offended party.

4. house of Jacob. This expression is much less common than
the parallel form the 'house of Israel.' It occurs only 17 times, apart
from Gen. xlvi. 27 where it is used in the literal sense of the immediate
descendants of the patriarch, and of these 7 are found in the book of
Isaiah. The appeal here, as so often in this prophet (cf Jas. i. 1), is
all Israel, not merely the Southern Kingdom : one wonders if Jeremiah
wished his message to be carried to the northern part of the laud to
the province of Samaria which at this time possibly included some
who were worshippers of Jehovah. Cf xli. 5 with notes.

5. unrighteousness. Cf Dt. xxxii. 4.

vanity. Lit. vapour, breath. The root idea is vapour driven by the
wind ; cf Prov. xxi. 6. The word is often applied to idols and their
worship and is very common in Jeremiah.

become vain. A verb from the same root. Another part of the
verb is used in xxiii. 16 of the results of the labours of the 'false'
prophets. Cf Ps. Ixii. 11 and Job xxvii. 12. Men may make gods in
their own image, but their characters tend tt) become similar to those
of the beings whom they worship.

6. ' The very name of Jehovah became known as a name of power
only through Moses and the great deliverance' (W. R. Smith, Prophets^,
p. 33) and by reminding them of the deeds of mercy and wisdom in
the past Jeremiah shews up their ingratitude in even darker colours.
For a description of the wilderness of the exodus see E. H. Palmer,
The Desert of the Exodus, especially pp. 284 ff. and cf Dt. i. 19, ix. 15,
xxxii. 10 ; i\.m. ii. 10 ; Mic. vi. 3 ff. The account is written from the
point of view of one unused to the nomadic life and not unnaturally
exaggerates the terrors of what was unknown to the writer. Asshur-
banipal bears testimony to the difficulties of crossing the Syro-Arabian
desert which he describes as ' a land of thirst and faintuess where no
beast of the field is and no bird builds its nest.'

II. 6-8] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 17

and of Hhe shadow of death, through a land that none passed
through, and where no man dwelt? 7 And I brought you into a
plentiful land, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof;
but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage
an abomination. 8 The priests said not. Where is the Lord? and
they that handle the law knew me not : the "^rulers also trans-

1 Or, deep darkness 2 Heb. shepherds.

the shadow of death. Mg. deep darkness is to be preferred. To the
inexperienced traveller the desert with its absence of roads is as hard
to traverse as a land of darkness : cf. Ps. xxiii. 4 ; Is. xxi. 1, xxx, 6 ;
Job vi. 18. Lxx. renders ' barrenness.'

7. In strong contrast to the hardships and dangers of the wilder-
ness through which God led His ransomed people was the land of
promise into which they entered. Cf. Am. ii. lOf.

plentiful land. Heb. land of Carmel. The word means garden-land,
plantation, and though it is used specifically of Mt Carmel, it may also
be applied to any very fertile spot.

defiled. The word used of ceremonial uncleanness. Hosea had
already made a very similar usage of the w^ord to describe the effect of
heathen cults (v. 3, vi. 10).

my land. Cf. xvi 18 ; Hos. ix. 3.

mine heritage. From the parallelism it is evident that the land is
meant, a very rare use — Ps. Ixxix. 1 furnishes another example. As a
rule the term is applied to the people itself (e.g. 1 S. x. 1 ; 1 K. viii.
53 ; Ps. xxxiii. 12).

abomination. Generally used in a religious sense though occasionally
with a wider meaning.

8. The priests. Jeremiah constantly attributes the failure of the
people to their natural leaders in both Church and State : cf xxiii. 1 If.

handle the law. The same phrase is used in Ecclus. xv. 1 with an
evident reference to the work of the scribes. In the present passage
the expression is a little awkward for the Heb. word t^'Sn tdphas = to
handle is almost always used of a literal seizing especially with the idea
of wielding ; in one or two late passages it has acquired a metaphorical
sense, e.g. Prov. xxx. 9 'seize the name of my God,' Nu. xxxi. 27 (P)
' those skilled in war (lit. handlers of war).' The word translated law
is in the original iT^il^ tordh and its literal meaning is ' direction ' ; cf
Ex. iv. 12, 15, where the verb is translated teach. The root underlying
tordh is used of casting or shooting and the word evidently goes back
to the time when ' direction^ waYgTveh l)y means of arrows &c. (cf
Ez. xxi. 21 f) or the casting oT'a sacred lot. The discovery that the
early Israelites agreed with Their neighbours in retaining much of the
outward ritual and religious mechanism of the primitive Semitic race
ought not to alarm us, for as Robertson Smith has wisely said ' the vast
difference between the revelation of Jehovah and the oracles of the

18 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [ii. s-io

gressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and
walked after things that do not profit. 9 Wherefore I will yet
plead with you, saith the Lord, and with your children's children
will I plead. 10 For pass over to the isles of Kittim, and see ;
and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently ; and see if there

nations lies in what Jehovah had to say rather than in the actual
manner of saying it.' Prophets^, p. 57.

knew me not. Cf. Hos. iv. 6 (of the priests).

rulers (Heb. shepherds). Cf. iii. 15, xxiii. 1, 2, 4. The representation
of the leaders of the nation under the figure of shepherds would be
one which would readily suggest itself to a pastoral people (already in
Hos. iv. 4 — 10, &c.), though strangely enough it is most commonly used
by the later writers (Ez. xxxiv. ; Zech. ix. — xi.).

transgressed. Sin is here regarded from the point of view, not of
the breaking of a law, but of rebellion against a person.

prophets. Jeremiah was forced to condemn the members of his own
order ; cf. Amos' indignant repudiation of the idea that he was a prophet
(vii. 14).

Baal. Singular for plural. Hosea similarly uses the word as a collective
noun (ii. 10, xiii. 1 ; cf. ii. 15, 19, xi. 2 ; and Zeph. i. 4).

do not profit. Jeremiah had a strong sense of the worthlessness of
the strange gods, cf v. 11 : it is therefore mere foolishness to worship
them. 'Every religion is utilitarian in the best and noblest sense of
the word : what must I do to be saved ? ' ' wie kriege ich einen gnadigen
Gott? sind ihre eigentlichen Lebensfragen.' Cornill.

9. plead. The word is nearly always used with Jehovah as the
subject. It should be remembered that the Heb. original contains no
idea of entreaty and the word would be much less liable to misunder-
standing if it had been consistently translated ' contend ' as in Is. xlix.
25, 1. 8 (AV., RV.). It is here used with a forensic force as in Is. iii. 13.

10. isles. The word really means coastlands and was a vague
designation of the countries 'that gird the Northern and Western
Mediterranean... derived, no doubt, from the Phoenician mariners who
skirted their shores without penetrating into the interior.' It is often
used as a synon) m for ' the West ' as a whole ; cf. Is. xlii. 10 f

Kittim. The word is usually derived from Kition the modern
Larnaka in Cyprus, though it is used with a much wider meaning and
here represents a people, evidently those who appear in Gen. x. 4 as
the descendants of Javan. W. Max Mliller would connect the word
with the Hittites {Asien u. Eur. p. 345). In 1 Mace. i. 1, viii. 5 the
Kittim are the Macedonians. See further J. G. Frazer, Adonis, &c. i.
pp. 31 i.

and see. Cf Am. ii. 10.

Kedar is here used to represent ' the East ' in contradistinction
to the isles of Kittim representing ' the West ' : see fuller note on
xlix. 28.

II. 10-I2] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 19

hath been such a thing. 11 Hath a nation changed their gods,
which yet are no gods ? but my people have changed their glory
for that which doth not profit. 12 Be astonished, 0 ye heavens,
at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the

11. nation. The gods of the heathen wer§. really in each several
case the personification of the nation by whom they were worshipped
and therefore a symbol of their ' political identity,' and religion had
' no higlier moral standard and no higher aims than those of the wor-
shippers themselves,' and so there was no reason from a 'religious' point
of view why any people should give up their gods. At the same time
there was a strong 'political' reason why they should not do so for
' that which gave the individuals-X)f a nation unity and made them a
people was the unity of its god.' ^A. B. Davidson, Expos. 2nd Series,
p. 257.) But in the case of Israel the God of the nation, in the minds
of the prophets at any rate, was ' something more than a personification
of their standards and aims,' and His worship involved moral restric-
tions which the body of the nation found too hard to bear. Cf Ez.
iii. 6, and see further W. Robertson Smith, Prophets^, pp. 66 f.

To many of the nations surrounding Israel at this time there would
be little need to cluinge gods ; because the existence and power of
other gods being recognised, and their own gods not being, in actual
experience, 'jealous gods,' all that would be necessary would be to add
to the number of gods worshipped. Such a proceeding would be
especially common in the case of an alliance between two nations when
the gods themselves were also considered to enter into an alliance.
This belief probably accounts for Solomon's action in building temples
for the deities of his various waives, for there can be little doubt that
his numerous marriages were intended to cement political alliances.
In later times Ahab's attempt to carry out this custom met with
strenuous opposition from Elijah. It is however possible that Jezebel
wished to supplant Jehovah altogether by the Syrian Baal, or she may
have attacked the prophets in revenge for their opposition; it would
be a hard task to discover which party was really the aggressor. This
action on the part of Elijah marks an advance in the conception of
Jehovah as a 'jealous god,' and is a step towards monotheism. In
commenting on this text Calvin mentions with approval Xenopbon's
commendation of the oracle of Apollo that those gods were rightly to
be worshipped who have been received by tradition from ancestors.

which yet are no gods. The same phrase is used by Hosea of the
calf-worship in Northern Israel (viii. 6).

12. heavens. The prophets constantly appeal to the heavens as a
witness against Israel's rebellion and sin. ' When the Lord arraigns
His people, the whole of nature is the appropriate audience.' (Wade
on Is. i. 2.) In vi. 19 a similar appeal is made to the earth.

he horribly afraid .. .desolate. Horribly afraid is better translated
shvdder. The MT. of he ye desolate U"in was read by lxx. as nmn ex-

2—2

20 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [ii. .2-1+

Lord. 13 For my people have committed two evils ; they have
forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out
cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. 14 Is Israel a
servant? is he a homeborn slave 1 why is he become a prey?

ceedingly, so that the whole phrase should probably best be translated
simply as shudder exceedingly.

13. An admirable description of the double folly of Judah for ' he
hath twofold guilt who, knowing good rather chooseth evil.' The two
sins, strictly speaking, are really different parts of one and the same
act, for when men give up God and religion they invariably seek for
some substitute, and so it comes about that an age of unbelief is
always an age of superstition. (Cf for example the state of the
early Roman Empire as described by Tacitus and other writers.) 'The
soul... dies by departing from the fountain of life, and thereupon is
taken up by this transitory world, and is conformed into it.' St Aug.
Con^. XIII. xxi. *

living waters. This is possibly the earliest use of this phrase in
connexion with the power of Jehovah. Apart from the context living
when applied to water merely means running or springing, and no idea
of life-giving is then to be attached to it. (Cf xvii. 13; Is. xii. 30;
Jn. iv. 14, and vii. 37 fif.) The people in their foolishness deserted
I Jehovah who is ' the fountain of life ' (Euoch xcvi. 6) to serve other
gods who were mere 'dead stone and lifeless wood^'

broken cisterns. ' The dead gods have no life and dispense no life,
just as wells with rents or fissures hold no water.' The remains of
these cisterns are still to be found in large numbers in Palestine. In
addition to their liability to crack and so to allow the store of water to
run off, these cisterns lose maich water by evaporation and the residue
is unpleasant to the eye and disagreeable to the taste. (Cf Thomson,
The Land and the Book, p. 287.)

14 — 19. The penalties of forsaking God, and trusting in man.

14 — 17. This small section has apparently got out of place and
interrupts the natural sequence from v. 13 to v. 18. It would seem
from 1?. 16 that Jeremiah uttered these vv. after the defeat and death
of Josiah at Megiddo and the consequent oppression by Egypt.

14. This V. exhibits a strong contrast with the state of affairs in
V. 3. Israel is no longer defended by Jehovah nor looked upon as His
possession.

servant .. .homehwn slave. Slaves were of two kinds — those acquired
by purchase, and those born in the house of the master and therefore
his permanent possession according to Ex. xxi. 1 — 3. The form of
the question requires an answer in the negative as in ■y. 31. (Cf viii.
4 f , 22, xiv. 19, &c.)

prey. Used in Nu. xiv. 3 and Dt. i. 39 of the little ones in the

^ In the Targum upon Cant. iv. 14 the words of the law are likened to a well of
living waters.

II. I5-I8] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 21

15 The young lions have roared upon him, and ^yelled : and they
have made his land waste ; his cities are burned up, without
inhabitant. 16 The children also of Noph and Tahpanhes have
^broken the crown of thy head. 17 Hast thou not procured this
unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, when
he led thee by the way ? 18 And now what hast thou to do in

1 Heb. given out their voice. ^ Or, fed on

wilderness : contrast xxx. 16 'all they that prey upon thee will I give
for a prey.'

15. 1/oung lions. The same figure is used in Is. v. 29 and is
frequent in Pss. Heb. has many words for lioti; the one used here
represents a lion able to hunt his prey and therefore older than a
whelp. The lion is used of Assyria in Nab. ii. 12 f

waste. A favourite word of Jeremiah who uses it more than twenty
times. Cf Is. i. 5 — 9.

without inhabitant. Driver thinks that the reference is to the
Northern Kingdom.

16. Noph. Memphis (Egn. Mennufer\ the ancient capital of Lower
Egypt, situated not far from the modern Cairo. At one time a city of
great importance (cf Diod. Sic. i. 51), it gradually decayed after the
foundation of Alexandria.

Tahpanhes. The Daphnae Pelusii of the Greeks (Aa<^i'at Herod.
II. 30, Ta<^vat LXX.), modern Tell De/enneh. Both places later contained
settlements of Jewish exiles (cf xHv. 1, xlvi. 14), Tahpanhes being the
place of the prophet's own residence (xliii. 7 f ).

broken. Mg. fed on. Driver suggests a slight alteration in the
Heb. so as to read lay bare (cf Is. vii. 20). Whichever reading is
adopted the meaning of the phrase is quite clear and refers to some
humiliation at the hands of Eg}^t, possibly in connexion with the
siege of Ashdod (Herod, ii. 157) or more probably after the defeat at
Megiddo.

17. Cf iv. 18.

18 f These vv. refer apparently to some attempt to strengthen
the position of the nation by political alliances either with Egypt,
which from the middle of the seventh century B.C. began to recover
something of its former power, or with iVssyria. The exact occasion
on which overtures were made is not known ; the use of Assyria suggests
that it was in the days of Josiah, unless indeed Assyria is used, as so
often in later writings (e.g. Zech. x. 10 f ), to represent any other
predominant Eastern power. Isaiah likewise found reasons during his
ministry to issue a similar condemnation of the pro-Egyptian party
(xxx. 1 — 3). Judah was constantly turning from one power to the other,
fluttering backwards and forwards like 'a silly dove' (Hos. vii. 11).
The small Syrian States resembled in many ways the Balkan States
of our own times, both in the uncertainty of their position and in
the policy which they habitually pursued to improve or maintain it.

22 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [ii. 18-20

the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of ^Shihor ? or what hast
thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of ^the
River? 19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy
backslidings shall reprove thee : know therefore and see that it
is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord
thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord, the
Lord of hosts. 20 For of old time ^I have broken thy yoke, and
burst thy bands ; and thou saidst, I will not ^ serve ; for upon
every high hill and under every green tree thou didst bow thy-

1 That is, the Nile. ^ That is, the Euphrates.

3 Or, thou hast * Another reading is, transgress.

18. Skik&i', 'the muddy river' (St Jerome, Ep. cviii. 14), ivS usually
taken to refer to the Nile (so iu Is. xxiii. 3) though sometimes it refers
merely to its Eastern arm, as in Josh. xiii. 3 (cf. 1 Ch. xiii. 5). LXX.
Trjwv is the name of the second river mentioned in Gen. ii. 13 as flowing
out of the Garden of Eden ; some would identify this river with the
Nile (e.g. Ecclus. xxiv. 27; Jub. viii. 15; Jos. Ant. i. i. 3). As it was
upon the Nile that Egypt depended for its fertility, and so for its very
life, the phrase to drink the ivaters of Shikar means to rely on the
resources of Egypt.

the River, par excellence, is the Euphrates. Just as the Nile
represents Egypt, so the River stands for the Eastern powers, Assyria,
Babylon and their successors.

19. Thine own wickedness. It was mainly owing to the unreliability
of Judah's promises and the constant plotting of her leaders that so
many misfortunes befell the nation. The voices of the prophets who
proclaimed with one mind that in ' quietness and confidence ' lay her
hope of survival were ignored in favour of the advice of political
opportunists.

exit thing. Cf. Am. viii. 10; Zeph. i. 14.

20 — 25. God had done everything for the future of the nation, and
yet it has turned out badly and has deserted Him. In a large variety
of figures borrowed from pastoral, agricultural, and home life the
prophet shews the depth of Judah's depravity.

20. I have broken. Better as marg., LXX. and Vg. thou hast broken.
The Massoretes evidently mistook the archaic form of the 2nd fem.
sing, for the 1st person. It is Israel that has become rebellious and
broken the commands of Jehovah, not, as in xxx. 8; Hos. xi. 4;
Jehovah who breaks the bonds of Israel and the yoke of her oppressors.

high hill. The Northern Semitic races seem to have had a pre-
ference for mountain tops as a place for offering sacrifices (cf Gen.
xxii. 2; Is. xv. 2). In like manner the dwelling place of the Deity
was thought to be on a high mountain: Dt. xxxiii. 2; Ps. Ixviii. 17
represent Jehovah as coming from Sinai His dwelling place. See

II. 20-32] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 23

self, playing the harlot. 21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine,
wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the de-
generate plant of a strange vine unto me? 22 For though thou
wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity

further W. Robertson Smith, Rel. Sem? pp. 489 f. ; H. P. Smith, Bel.
of Isr. p. 20 ; J. G. Frazer, Folk-Lore in 0. T. pp. 62 ff.

green tree. The trees under which special worship was paid were
probably held to be sacred. The veneration of sacred trees was very
widespread amongst the ancient Semites: cf. W. Robertson Smith,
op. cit. pp. 185 ff. ; H. P. Smith, ojx cit. pp. 17 f ; and see also for the
whole subject of tree-worship J. G. Frazer, The Magic Art, ii. pp. 6 ff.,
349 ff., Folk-Lore in O.T. pp. 40 ff.

didst how thyself. The people are condemned for worshipping strange
gods at these sanctuaries just as in Hos. viii. 13; Am. v. 21. The
earlier Hebrew religion saw nothing wrong in an indefinite number of
local sanctuaries, many of which would be taken over from the original
inhabitants (Ex. xx. 4; Hos. viii. 11; Am. iv. 4). In later times, how-
ever, it was seen that it was impossible to free such sanctuaries from
their previous traditions and that the only way of purifying the worship
was to destroy them (Ez. xx. 28 ; Dt. xii. 12 f). See Introd. pp. xxif.

playing the harlot. A reference to the sin of the nation in worship-
ping other gods than Jehovah who was her true husband (cf iii. 1—5,
iv. 13 f ). The term would receive greater force from the immoral
practices which were carried on in connexion with such worship. In
Is. i. 21 ff. the reference seems to be to sinning against Jehovah gene-
rally without any specific reference to idolatry.

21. planted. There are constant references throughout OT. to
Israel as the vine which Jehovah has planted and which has become
degenerate (Hos. x. 1 ; Ps. Ixxx. 9, &c.). In Is. v. 1 ff. the nation is
figured as the vineyard itself It is possible that when our Lord spoke
of Himself as the true vine He was not unmindful of its use as a symbol
for the nation (Jn. xv. 1 ff.)

noble. Heb. Sorek, a word which is used also in Is. v. 2 of the chosen
people.

right seed. An unique expression, though moral qualities are else-
where attributed to seeds. (Cf Ez. ix. 2; Mai. ii. 15; Matt. xiii. 44
KoXov airepfxa.) The genuineness and rehability of the original seed are
emphasised in contrast to the plant which has sprung from it (Gen.
xlix. 22; Dt. xxxiii. 32; Ez. xv. 1 if., xvii. 5, xix. 10).

22. The agricultural figure of the vine is suddenly dropped for one
derived from the common household task of washing clothes.

wash. The word (d2d) is used generally of washing clothes ; its
hteral meaning is to tread. The same expression is used in iv. 14.
lye, washing-soda : a mineral alkali. Here and xiii. 23 ; Ps. Ii. 7,
soap, a vegetable alkali, made from the ashes of certain plants. Here
and Mai. iii, 2.

24 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [ii. c!a-i4

is marked before me, saith the Lord God. 23 How canst thou
say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baalim ? see thy
way in the valley, know what thou hast done : thou art a swift
^ dromedary traversing her ways ; 24 a Avild ass used to the wilder-
ness, that snuffeth up the wind in her desire; in her occasion

^ Or, young camel

marked. Cf. Macbeth, Act ii. Sc. 2 :

' Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand ? '

23. The nation denies that it has followed after other gods, and
probably from its own point of view with justice, for doubtless the cor-
rupt worship would generally be offered up in the name of Jehovah.
Judah's sin was not the attempt to substitute any other god for .Jehovah,
but the failure to reach any worthy conception of His character ; and
so the prophet could accuse them of multiplying the number of their
gods because he refused to recognise the validity of the worship which
they offered. Cf the excuse of Adam (Gen. iii. 11 — 13) and of Saul
(1 S. XV. 13—15).

Baalim. Heb. plural. They were worshipped in different localities
mainly in connexion with agricultural pursuits.

the valley must refer to some well-known place. There can be no
doubt that the valley of the son of Hinnom is meant. See on vii. 31.

dromedary. 'The dromedary of Egypt and Syria is not the two-
humped animal described by that name in books of natural history, but
is in fact of the same family as the camel, standing towards his more
clumsy fellow-slave in about the same relation as a racer to a cart-horse.'
(Kinglake, Eothen, p. 183.)

traversing. Lit. twisting, a figure for aimless wandering : ' coursing
hither and thither ' (Driver). Israel was as changeable and uncertain
in her religious as in her political life.

24. wild ass. The same Heb. consonants can be read heifer, and
Duhm prefers this reading as a wild ass would not be yoked {v. 20).
He thinks the figure in the prophet's mind is that of a heifer which has
broken loose and taken to the desert in her passion. But there is no
need to connect the statements in v. 20 with this v. in view of all that
lies between them, and the animal is one which is used to the wilder-
ness. The blind eagerness of the Israelites in the pursuit of other gods
is only paralleled by the unrestrained speed of the ivild ass in search of
her lovers. The wild ass is used in Job xxiv. 5, xxxix. 5 — 8, as here,
as a type of licence, and in Gen. xvi. 12 of love of freedom (of Ishmael).
The figure may have been suggested by Hos, viii. 9^

* ' It is a characteristic of the wild ass to seek the highest summits of the

mountains, and there to stand cutting the bhie sky with its head and ears erect

They are swifter of foot and wilder than any beast that ranges the uplands.'
James Morier, quoted by Stanley, The Jeicish Church, ii. p. 443.

11. ^A-2^] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 25

who can turn her away ? all they that seek her will not weary
themselves ; in her month they shall find her. 25 Withhold thy
foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou
saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and
after them will I go. 26 As the thief is ashamed when he is
found, so is the house of Israel ashamed ; they, their kings, their
princes, and their priests, and their prophets ; 27 which say to
a stock. Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast ^brought
^me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not

J Or, begotten me ^ Another reading is, us.

25. The metaphor is changed slightly; the idea of the pursuit of
strange gods is still retained, but it is a human being, one who wears
sandals, who is bidden not to continue in her course. Driver para-
phrases : 'Do not run thy feet bare and thy throat dry.' There is
probably no reference to the bare feet of those who are at the sanctuary
(cf. Moses, Ex. iii. 5), or to the dry throat of an unanswered but per-
sistent worshipper.

There is no hope. The Heb. '^'^13 expresses the hopelessness of one
who has lost even the desire for amendment although recognising her
own misery and wretchedness. It is the utterance of absolute despair.
Cf. Is. Ivii. 10 ; Jn. viii. 34.

strangers. Foreign gods. Cf. iii. 13; Is. xliii. 12.

after them will I go. Cf. Is. xxx. 15 'this is your rest, but ye
would not.'

26 — 28. The folly of idolatry. Israel's continuance in idolatry will
bring nothing but disappointment and disgrace.

26. As the thief is ashamed. For another passage in which a thief is
regarded as an object of derision see xlviii. 27. The idea underlying
the comparison is the confusion and disgrace in store for Israel. This
disgrace will be realised not by a sudden awaking of the finer feelings
of the people, but simply through their discovery of the powerlessness
of the false gods and the consequent folly of their own conduct in wor-
shipping them: cf. Hos. iv. 19; Is. i. 29 ff.

27. ' The dead stock and the lifeless stone ' were fit symbols of the
gods whom they were supposed to represent: cf. Jub. xxii. 18. J. G.
Fra^er, however, thinks that Jeremiah ' was not using vague rhetorical
language, but denouncing real beliefs among his contemporaries'; see
his interesting suggestions in Adonis, i. pp. 107 ff.

father. Duhm does not think that there is any reference here to
ancestor-worship, which was not found among the Hebrews. The meaning
probably is that the people pay to idols the honour which is due to
Jehovah alone as the true Father of the nation. Cf. Dt. xxxii. 18;
Job xxxviii. '29; 1 Cor. iv. 15; Gal. iv. 19.

back. Cf. Ez. viii. 17 for a literal turning of the back upon .Jehovah.
Cf. Jud. x. 9 f. ; Ps. Ixxviii. 24; Is. xxiv. 16.

26 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [ii. ,7-3,

their face : but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise,
and save us. 28 But where are thy gods that thou hast made
thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy
trouble : for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods,
0 Judah.

29 Wherefore will ye plead with me ? ye all have transgressed
against me, saith the Lord. 30 In vain have I smitten your
children; they received no ^correction: your own sword hath
devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. 310 generation,

1 Or, instruction

Arise, and save us. Ezekiel, writing of a somewhat later time, repre-
sents the people as adopting strange superstitions because they imagined
that God had deserted them (viii. 12; and of. Jeremiah's own experience
in Egypt, xHv. 17 f.).

28. This V. hardl)' agrees with the denials of v. 23; of. xi. 13, 19.
For the tone of irony wliich runs through it cf. Elijah and the prophets
of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 K. xviii. 27).

according to the number of thy cities. The reference here is evidently
to the worship of the Baalim at the various local sanctuaries. When
such sanctuaries were taken over from the Canaanites the traditional
/deity would in time be transformed into a representation of Jehovah
j Himself : there is a trace of oue of these local representations retaining
a sort of individuality in Absalom's oath by the Jehovah of Hebron
(2 S. XV. 7). From the Middle Ages onwards a similar practice has
arisen in Christian countries, and one may speak of our Lady of Wal-
singham, and so forth. (See note in J. M. P. Smith's Zeph. &c.
p. 190.)

29 — 37. The reason for Israel's misfortunes. The prophet, speaking
in the name of Jehovah, dismisses the real or pretended complaints of
the people because trouble has come upon them. The evil has been
brought about by their own persistent sinning and continued hardness
of heart, and, if they would but recognise it, is intended to lead them
to repentance. Cf. Frov. i. 24 — 31.

29. plead. See on v. 9.

30. your children. The children of the nations, i.e. the individuals
of which they were composed, probably with no idea of the age of the
victims ; some commentators, however, take the expression literally.

correction. Lit. instruction. A common word in this book and also
in Deuteronomy and Proverbs. The root means to ' chasten, discipline
or admonish.'

your own sword, lxx., Vg., Syr. ' the sword,' probably more cor-
rectly.

your prophets. From the parallelism these must have been trusted
leaders of the people, those prophets who are usually described as false
prophets and who are so frequently condemned by Jeremiah (see Note,

II. 31-34] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 27

see ye the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness unto
Israel ? or a land of Hhick darkness ? wherefore say my people,
We are broken loose ; we will come no more unto thee ? 32 Can a
maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire ? yet my people
have forgotten me days without number. 33 How trimmest thou
thy way to seek love! therefore even the wicked women hast
thou taught thy ways. 34 Also in thy skirts is found the blood
of the souls of the innocent poor: ^I have not found it at ^the

^ Or, darkness from Jah ^ Or, thou didst not find them ^ See Ex. xxii. 2.

pp. 182 ff.). Their death was evidently calculated to have been a
striking and impressive sign to the people. It is God who has cut them
off, just as it is He who cut off their children, otherwise we should have
had ' my prophets.'

31. Has God failed to carry out His promises, He who is the Hving
water? and become to His people as a parched and dreary land, without
support or moisture? Cf. vv. 4 f.

wilderness. As a rule the wilderness means the uncultivated land
which was used as a browsing place for flocks and herds (see on v. 2),
but here apparently it refers to the wilderness in the modern sense of
the word : cf ix. 1 ; Dt. xxxii. 10.

thick darkness. Just as the wilderness represents lack of support,
so thick darkness represents lack of guidance and protection. RVm.
gives the literal rendering of Heb. darkwss of Jah, that is darkness
from Jehovah, and therefore very terrible (cf ' flame of Jah ' in Cant,
viii. 6).

broken loose. The root means to wander about without restraint.
Elsewhere only in Gen. xxvii. 40; Ps. Iv. 3; and Hos. xii. 1.

32. maid... bride. A pathetic appeal once more to the covenant
days when Israel, like a pure virgin, was betrothed to Jeliovah (v. 2):
now Israel, like an adulterous wife (iii. 1 ff.), has not only been faith-
less to Jehovah but has even forgotten Him : cf Is. i. 3, xlix. 18.

ornaments. The women of the East are still fond of wearing many
and varied ornaments ; the number of different Heb. words used to re-
present them shews their commonness in OT. See further on iv. 30.

33. The very harlots have been excelled in wickedness by Israel.
Some commentators see here a reference to the immoral practices in
connexion with religion: lxx. thou hast done wickedly in coi'rupting
thy ivays.

34. This V. is given up by most commentators as 'incurably
corrupt.'

innocent poor. 'The allusion may be either to deaths due to mis-
carriage of justice or the result of exaction (vii. 6, xxii. 3, 17 ; cf Mic.
iii._ 10; Ps. xciv. 21), or to the sacrifice of children (see xix. 4; cf Ps.
cvi. 38), or possibly to the martyrdoms under Manasseh (2 K. xxi. 16,
xxiv. 4).' Driver.

28 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [ii. 34-in. 1

place of breaking in, but upon ^all these. 35 Yet thou saidst,
I am innocent ; surely his anger is turned away from me. Behold,
I will enter into judgement with thee, because thou say est, I have
not sinned. 36 Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy
way? thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt also, as thou wast ashamed
of Assyria. 37 From him also shalt thou go forth, with thine
hands upon thine head: for the Lord hath rejected thy con-
fidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.

III. 1 ^They say, ^If a man put away his wife, and she go

1 Some ancient authorities have, every oak.
2 Heb. Saying. ^ See Deut. xxiv. 1 — 4.

breaking in. Duhm thinks that a distinction is made between the
innocent poor and the robber who could be slain without bloodguiltiness
(Ex. xxii. 2)^

35. Israel relies on her restored prosperity which to her represents
the turning away of God's anger and therefore the proof of her innocence.
This hypocritical protestation is the deepest of all her crimes. The
whole V. bears a marked resemblance to Is. i. 28 which should in all
probability be translated 'come and let us implead one another' saith
Jehovah ' if your sins be as scarlet are they to be reckoned as white as
wool V , ,

36. to change thy way. vtl^ = I^TXri from a root ^TN a word
common in Aramaic with the meaning 'to go.' Duhm derives from the
root b'pT giving to it the meaning ' to act lightly ' (cf lxx. KaTce^po'vT/o-as),
but it is doubtful whether the root can be so interpreted.

ashamed, i.e. disappointed at the failure of the looked for help. Cf.
Is. XX. 5 f , XXX. 3 — 5. The occasion which is alluded to is not specified
and is unknown.

Egypt. Cf xxxvii. 5.

Assyria. Cf 2 Ch. xxviii. 21.

37. thine hands upon thine head. Cf 2 S. xiii. 19.

III. 1—5. This small section has apparently got out of its context
as the Hebrew requires some introduction (see on v. 1). According to
the law of Dt. xxiv. 1 — 4, if a man divorced his wife and she married
another he was uuable to take her back again. This law evidently did
not apply to the case of a man whose wife had been forcibly taken from
him (cf. 2 S. iii. 14 flf. David and Michal). Similar prohibitions are found
in other Semitic nations ; e.g. the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi forbids
a husband to have intercourse with his divorced wife (see S. A. Cook,
The Laivs of Moses, &c. p. 124). By a strange coincidence the Koran

^ By § 21 of the Code of Hammurabi anyone making a breach in a house could
be killed out of hand (see S. A. Cook, The Laws of Moses, &c. pp. 212 f.). Mr Cook
refers to similar enactments in the legislation of Solon, Plato, and the Twelve
Tables. Modern Arab custom requires an indemnity for anyone so killed (Jaussen,
Rev. Bib. 1901, p. 600).

III. 1-5] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 29

from him, and become another mans, shall he return unto her
again ? shall not that land be greatly polluted ? But thou hast
played the harlot with many lovers; ^yet return again to me,
saith the Lord. 2 Lift up thine eyes unto the bare heights, and
see ; where hast thou not been lien with ? By the ways hast thou
sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast
polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath
been no latter rain; yet thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou
refusedst to be ashamed. 4 Wilt thou not from this time cry
unto me, My father, thou art the ^guide of my youth ? 5 Will

1 Or, and thinkest thou to return etc.? - Or, companion

only allows re-marriage in cases where the woman had in the meantime
been the wife of another. The obvious intention of all such laws was to
discourage the husband from an arbitrary exercise of his undoubted
right of divorcing his wife at will.

1. They say. Heb. saying, lxx. and Syr. omit, Vg. vulgo dicitur.
It is possible that all that has fallen out is the usual prophetic formula
' The word of the Lord came unto me.'

land. LXX. woman, which agrees better with Dt. xxiv. 4 a.
played the harlot. Israel has not been divorced at all. She has
committed shameless and constant adultery.
return. Mg. thinkest thou to return ? is better.

2. Arabian, i.e. a nomad. The use of the word for the members
of a particular race is probably later than OT. The wandering tribes of
the desert have at all times been a danger to travellers ; as early as the
fourteenth century B.C. Hattusil, king of the Hittites, wrote to the king
of Babylon that communications had been interrupted by raids of the
Bedouin : cf. Diod. Sic. 11. 48 ; Pliny, Hist. Nat. vi. 28.

3. Cf xiv. 22 ; Hag. i. 10 f. ; and the passage in Enoch Ixxx. 2 f.
on the perversion of nature owing to the sin of man.

latter rain. The showers of Mar. -Apr. which refresh the ripening
crops. In the plains the wheat harvest begins in early May, on the
higher land in early June, and the barley is a little earlier. The latter
rain is often used metaphorically, Prov. xvi. 15 (of king's favour); Job
xxix. 23 (of his importance); Hos. vi. 3 (of God's grace) (see further
on V. 24).

4. This V. may contain a reference to the nation's turning to
Jehovah in the reign of Josiah, a repentance which was soon forgotten
in continued sins; or it may be another example of that moral levity
which allowed the people to call upon Jehovah by name and at the same
time to persist in crime and idolatry.

My father. The metaphor of the erring wife was no doubt borrowed
by Jeremiah from Hosea. The earlier prophet by his bitter experience

30 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [iii. 5

he retain his anger for ever ? will he keep it to the end ? Behold,
thou %ast spoken and hast done evil things, and hast *had thy
way.

1 Or, hast spoken thus, hut hast done d:c. - Heb. been able.

had learned that the relationship subsisting between husband and wife
was a symbol of an even greater mystery: cf. Eph. v. 22 — 32. But
something further is required to represent the relations of God and
Israel and so the metaphor of father and child is also employed (cf.
Forbes Robinson, The Self- Limitation of the Word of God, pp. 125,
156 f. ; and for the conception of Jehovah as the father of Israel see
Smend, Lehrbuch der A. T. Religionsgeschichte'^, 96 — 101)\

my youth. Notice the continued favourable allusions to the earlier
history of the nation and the closeness of its walk with God. For the
phrase companion of my youth, cf. Prov. ii. 17.

Chapter III. 6—18.
An Invitation to the exiled Northern Tribes to return.

These vv. internipt the sequence of thought, as ?5. 19 is apparently a direct
continuation of v. 5; the text also is in some confusion, and if the section
comes from Jeremiah himself it has evidently got out of its context. The
point upon which the passage lays stress is that Judah in spite of the warning
which it ought to have received from the fate of Samaria, has fallen into sins
worse even than those which disgraced the Northeru Kingdom. The prophet
is bidden in God's name to address a message of comfort and hope to the exiled
nation, calling upon it to confess its sins and so to be in a position to receive
God's pardon. In the glorious future which will then be ushered in Judah and
Israel will once more be united, and Jerusalem, the capital of the newly restored
nation, will be called 'the throne of Jehovah.'

The fact that Jeremiah was a member of the tribe of Benjamin would give
him sympathy with the Northern Kingdom. It is rather strange that in this
passage Israel should be used for the ten tribes, in ii. 1 — iii. 5 it is used of all
the families of Jacob. In xxiii. 13 and xxxi. 5 the Northern Kingdom is referred
to as Samaria though this is unusual.

Keil sums up the contents of the discourse in two thoughts, (1) Israel is not
to remain always rejected, as self-satisfied Judah imagined ; (2) Judah is not to
be always spared.

In the actual course of events the warning came too late ; Judah was too

1 It should be noted, however, that the corresponding Babylonian word for
' father ' aha is also used of a ' husband ' (see Barton, Semitic Origins, p. 68, n. 5) ;
and that Eobertson Smitli has pointed out that in both North and South Semitic
dialects the husband can be called the 'father' of his wife {Kinship and Marriage,
pp. 117 f.).

III. 6-10] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 31

far advanced on its path of sin to be checked by any reminder of the fate which
befell Samaria. But in the working out of God's plan for the world it was that
portion of the original Israel which had sinned more deeply — because it had
had a clearer view of the punishment before it — that was to be restored and to
enter into the position of being His people.

6 Moreover the Lord said unto me in the days of Josiah the
king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done ?
she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green
tree, and there hath played the harlot. 7 ^ And I said after she
had done all these things, ^She will return unto me; but she
returned not : and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 And
^I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had
committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of
divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not; but
she also went and played the harlot. 9 And it came to pass
through the lightness of her whoredom, that the land was
polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not

^ Or, And I said, After she hath done all these things, she d'c.
2 Or, Let iter return unto me
•* Some ancient authorities have, she saw that, for (&e.

6. in the days of Josiah. Josiah came to the throne in 639.
Jeremiah was called in 626 and the iSorthern Kingdom ceased to exist
in 722, therefore some hundred years or more liad probably elapsed
since Israel had gone into exile.

Hast thou seen. Dulim somewhat unnecessarily objects to the form
of this question. It is not intended to be taken literally and, if the
passage is an insertion later than Jeremiah, the prophet was too well
known a figure for anyone to have imagined that he was alive at the
time of the fall of Samaria.

backsliding. In the Hebrew there is a play upon the word for
' turning back ' which in ttie EVV. is lost through its being translated
by different words, backsliding here and return in u 7.

7. She will return. Jehovah's desire for Israel's return was some-
thing more than a mere wish, He sent His messengers to bring her back,
though from the words / said (to myself), i.e. I thouglit, Eashi points
out that no stress is intended to be laid on them.

8. Ezekiel makes a similar accusation against Judah in the allegory
of Oholah and Ohohbah (xxiii.).

bill of divorcement. Israel as a nation had been cast off by Jehovah
and given a bill of divorcement; Judah on the other hand is said to
have divorced herself (Is. 1. 1).

10. The reform under Josiah did not go deep enough and, as at all

32 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [iii. 10-.5

returned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the
Lord. 1 1 And the, Lord said unto me, Backsliding Israel hath
shewn herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go,
and proclaim these words toward the north, and sa}^ Return,
thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord ; I will not ^ look in anger
upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, I will not keep
anger for ever. 13 Only ^acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou
hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered
thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have
not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord. 14 Return, 0 backsliding
children, saith the Lord ; for I am a husband unto you : and I
will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring
you to Zion : 15 and I will give you shepherds according to mine

^ Heb. cause my countenance to fall upon you. "^ Or, know

times when reformers are in power, many would outwardly conform to
principles which they felt to be burdensome, and would therefore be
only too glad of any opportunity for throwing them off.

11. Cf Ez. xvi. 51 ; Lk. xviii. 14.

• 12. The exiles of Israel are still looked upon as preserving a separate
existence and are not yet absorbed into the surrounding nations.

look in anger. Lit. cause my countenance to fall: the same Hebrew
expression appears in Gen. iv. 5 (of Cain); and in Job xxix. 24.

/ will not keep anger for ever. This statement seems intended to
be a reply to v. 5.

13. Only acknowledge thine iniquity. God ' will exclude from salva-
tion no one who is willing to return ' (Keil). The first stage of repentance
is recognition of sin, just as the last stage is amendment of life.

strangers, i.e. foreign gods. In later Judaism 'strange worship'
was a euphemism for idolatry, hence the title of the tractate of the
Mishnah called Aboda Zara.

14. children... husband. 'The confusion is only verbal, and the
twofold relationship gives a double certainty of acceptance. As children
they were sure of a father's love, as a wife they might hope for a revival
of past affection from the husband of their youth ' (Payne Smith).

family. A division of a clan ; evidently a large body is meant from
the parallelism with city.

Zion. Those who return will be few in number, and are all to dwell
in Jerusalem. Some critics point out that this statement is inconsistent
with xxxi. 8 where 'a great company' is to return. It is possible to
reconcile the two statements by supposing that here the prophet has in
view the large number of exiles who would not return, which made those
who returned seem but few in proportion. In either prophecy there is
an anticipation of a large population of the Holy Land (cf v. 16).

III. 15-17] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 33

heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased
in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more,
The ark of the covenant of the Lord; neither shall it come to
mind : neither shall they remember it ; neither shall they ^ visit
it ; neither ^ shall that be done any more. 17 At that time
they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord ; and all the
nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to
Jerusalem : neither shall they walk any more after the stubborn-

^ Or, miss ^ Or, shall it be made any more

15. shepherds. A Messianic forecast: cf. xxiii. 4; Is. ix., xi. ;
Ez. xxxiv. 23.

mine heart. The greatest sign of the Divine favour towards the
restored community is to be the gift of ' pastors ' chosen by God Himself

16. The ark of the covenant of the Lord. This is a late expression ;
in the earlier days it was simply called the ark of the covenant, or the
ark of God. See Additional Note, pp. 34 f In the days to come no
visible symbol of Jehovah's presence would be required.

come to mind (aS hv r\h^). A frequent expression in Jeremiah
(xliv. 21, li. 50) which is found also in NT. (e.g. Acts vii. 23; 1 Cor.
ii. 9).

17. Jerusalem the throne of the Lord. Cf Is. xviii. 7 where 'the
place of Jehovah's name ' is used as a synonym for the temple. This
exalted regard for Jerusalem is common in the visions of the prophets
and psalmists (e.g. Is. ii. 2 — 4, Ivi. 7 ; Ps. xlviii. 1 — 2). Jeremiah is
looking forward to a time when Jerusalem will have been purified and
when the worship ofiered at the temple will be such as Jehovah could
accept (cf vii. 21). Some critics think that if this passage is from
Jeremiah's own lips it belongs to the time after the destruction of
Jerusalem and that the prophet looks forward to its glorious restoration.
Against this view it is perhaps sufficient to say that Jeremiah seems to
have been convinced from a time quite early in his ministry that the
fate of Jerusalem could not be avoided and that therefore, believing as
he did in its final restoration, he did not need to wait for its actual
destruction in order to paint its future excellence. Our Lord further
extended Jeremiah's teaching by telling the woman of Samaria that
the day was coming when the temple itself would be unnecessary:
Jn. iv. 21.

gathered. Cf Zech. ii. 15. The revelation of God's glory would
draw forth the homage of the heathen : cf Josh. ix. 9 ff.

stubbornness. Heb. -ni*' lit, means firmness. The word, which is
characteristic of Jeremiah (8 times, elsewhere only Dt. xxix. 18; and
Ps. Ixxxi. 13), is always used of firmness in a bad sense, obstinacy, and
is always connected with heart. The prophet from his own experience

B. 3

34 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [iii. 17, 18

ness of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah
shall walk ^ with the house of Israel, and they shall come together
out of tlie land of the north to the land that I gave for an in-
heritance unto your fathers.

^ Or, to

felt that the heart of man was so fitted for communion with God that
it could be by deliberate obstinacy only that he would refuse to obey
Him.

18. The division of the Jewish people into two parts was felt very
deeply by the later prophets and so they anticipate that in order to
make perfect the age which is coming both parts will be restored (Ez.
iv. 6; Is. xliii. 6f). That a people worshipping one God should be
thus separated into two nations was to them an anomaly, especially in
view of the widespread use of the metaphor of God as the husband of
the people (cf Hos. i. 11, viii. 3f. ; Is. xi. 13 ; Ez. xxxiv. 23 f, xxxvii.
22). At the same time there is at least a possibility that two other
nations of the Semitic stock also had their deity in common — Moab
and Ammon. As a rule Chemosh is regarded as the god of Moab and
Milcom as that of Ammon but on the Moabite-stone the combination
Chemosh-Melech is found, and in Jud. xi. 24 the god of the Ammonites
is said to be Chemosh : cf also Dr Barnes' note on 1 K. xi. 7 in the
Cambridge Bible.

Additional Note on iii< 16.

The Ark of the Covenant.

The natural inference to be drawn from Jeremiah's attitude as described in
this V. is that the people of his day attached too much importance to the ark
as the visible symbol of Jehovah's presence (cf. 1 S. iv. 3 flf.). Jeremiah
evidently found the ark hateful to him as being a part of the crude materialistic
religion, so popular with the j^eople, against which his whole ministry was a
constant protest. It should be remembered too, that though the ark might be
the sign of Jehovah's presence, it was at the same time likely to encourage men
in the belief that His presence was limited thereto; such a conception seems
to underlie the action of the Israelites at Ebenezer referred to above, and when
David danced before the ark he could be described as dancing 'before the
Lord' (2 S. vi. 14). Conceptions such as these must have been felt by the
prophet to be unworthy of the spiritual worship of Jehovah which he wished
to inculcate.

The history of the ark is very obscure and it is not mentioned after the
erection of Solomon's temple until the present passage, a gap of nearly four
hundred years. There is one possible exception to the above statement, as
according to 2 Ch. xxxv. 3 it was restored to the temple by Josiah; since,

III. 19] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 35

however, there is no mention of such a restoration in 2 K. xxiii. critics are
not disposed to acknowledge the genuineness of this tradition. The exact date
of the disappearance of the ark is not known ; it is not mentioned in connexion
with the Fall of Jerusalem — except in the obviously legendary account in
2 Mace. ii. 4 ff. — nor did it find a place in the temple of the restoration (see
Joseph. Bell. Jud. v. v. 5 ; Tacitus, Hist. v. 9).

Vaz-ious suggestions have been put forward to account for the disappearance
of the ark. It may have perished in some invasion. Perhaps it was taken from
Jerusalem by Joash, King of Israel, in 785 b.c. when he earned off the temple
treasures (2 K. xiv. 14). He may have felt, as Cheyne suggests {Enc. Bib.
306), that he was reclaiming 'the long-lost treasure of the Bphraimitish sanc-
tuary at Shiloh.' If this suggestion is a sound one, and on the face of it there
is nothing against it beyond the failure of the Biblical writers actually to mention
it, it may be that the ark finally disappeared with the destruction of Shiloh re-
ferred to in vii. 12. The possession of the ark by the Southern Kingdom may
have been a sore point vdth the men of Israel, and Calvin sees in Jeremiah's
forecast a desire to remove a cause of offence which might prevent or endanger
the reconciliation of the two parts of the nation. Another interesting suggestion,
made by Canon Kennett, is that the ark was used as a receptacle for the brazen
serpent and that it may have shared the fete of that object of worship (2 K.
xviii, 4).

For fuller details of the history of the ark and for suggestions as to its fate
see Dr McNeile's note in his commentary on E.vodus, pp. 161 ff.; and Eiic. Bib.
300 ff.

Chapters HI. 19— IV. 4.
A Vision of Israel's Penitence and Restoration.

This prophecy is probably a continuation of iii. 5 ; as was pointed out in the
introduction to iii. 6 — 18 that section is apparently an interpolation.

{a) Israelis ingratitude and Jehovah! s forbearance, iii. 19 f.
(6) Israel returns in penitence and shame. 21 — 25.
(c) Jehovah demands works worthy of repentance, iv. 1 f.
{d) A warning to the men ofjudah. 3f

19 But I said, How ^ shall I put thee among the children,
and give thee a pleasant land, ^a goodly heritage of the hosts
of the nations? and I said, ^ Ye shall call me My father; and

1 Or, would .. .nations ! ^ Or, the goodliest heritage of the nations
* Another reading is, Thou shalt...and shalt not etc.

19 f. Jehovah desired to shew mercy and forbearance to the
House of Israel ; but the fulfilment of His desire was prevented by
her ingratitude.

3—2

36 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [iii. 19-^3

shall not turn away from following me. 20 Surely as a wife
treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt
treacherously with me, 0 house of Israel, saith the Lord. 21 A
voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the
supplications of the children of Israel; for that they have
perverted their way, they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your back-
slidings. Behold, we are come unto thee ; for thou art the Lord
our God. 23 Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from

19. How sJudl I. Cf. Hos. xi. 8 where the same form of question
is used, but with reference not to privilege but to punishm.ent.

children. Better sons. Israel though a woman — lands and cities
are feminine in Heb. as in many other languages — was to have her
share like a son. According to the most ancient Hebrew law daughters
had no share in their father's property, as the case of the daughters of
Zelophehad (Nu. xxvii. Iff.) evidently set a precedent; it should be
mentioned that this incident is considered by many critics to be late,
and probably shews the influence of Babylonian customs by which the
daughter was treated more kindly (see S. A. Cook, Laws of Moses, &c.
pp. 145 f.). The case of Job's daughters who held 'an inheritance in
the midst of their brethren' (xlii. 15) is an obvious instance of an
exception which proves a general rule.

pleasant land. Cf Zech. vii. 14 ; Ps. cvi. 24.

20. treacherously. Cf v. 11 ; Hos. v. 7, vi. 7 ; Mai. ii. 11.
Israel includes and in fact really means Judah ; for the promises

to the race, if the expression is read in the light of later history,
were narrowed down after the fall of Samaria to the elect Southern
Kingdom.

21 — 25. The children of Israel are pictured as returning to Jehovah
with weeping and with inarticulate supplications. Jehovah speaks
encouragingly to them and they take up the chorus of repentance,
confessing their sin and folly in trusting in vain gods : cf Hos. v. 14 —
vi. 4. The prophet's hopeful anticipations were however doomed to
wait long years for their fulfilment.

21. A voice is heard. The same phrase introduces the lament of
Rachel in xxxi. 15.

bare heights. A common place for mourning (cf vii. 29). It is
also to be noted that it was on the bare heights that Israel had sinned
against Jehovah (cf v. 2); ' the scene of her idolatry is the scene also of
her penitence.' (Peake.)

22. Beturn-.-backslidings. There is here a play on the same
Hebrew word as was noticed in v. 6. Jehovah is willing to accept
even the slightest desire for repentance and to increase it (cf xxx.
17, xxxiii. 6); He will 'heal' the backslidings of His children (Hos.
xiv. 4).

in. 23-25] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 37

the hills, the Humult on the mountains: truly in the Lord our
God is the salvation of Israel. 24 But the ^ shameful thing hath
devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth ; their flocks
and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 Let us lie
down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us : for we have
sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our
youth even unto this day : and we have not obeyed the voice of
the Lord our God.

1 Or, noisy throng ^ Heb. shame. See ch. xi. 13.

23. hills... mountains. Cf. v. 2L Ezekiel was commanded to
prophesy against the mountains owing to the unlawful worship which
had taken place upon them (vi. 2 ff.)- The nation in its moments of
loyalty to Jehovah looked upon the hills as the place from whence His
power would come (Ps. cxxi. 1 £).

24. the shameful thing, i.e. Baal. The writers of OT. not infre-
quently use the Hebrew word meaning shame (Bosheth) for Baal (cf.
xi. 13 ; Hos. ix. 10). In some proper names ending in Baal the second
half has been changed into Bosheth : e.g. Ishbaal the sou of Saul
(1 Ch. viii. 33) is called Ishbosheth in 2 S. ii. 8 (see Driver's note ad
loc). When the name had originally been given Baal was no doubt
intended as a title of Jehovah (cf. Hos. ii. 16).

their sons and their daughters. The references to human sacrifice
in OT., as it stands at present, are not very numerous and many critics
think that the humanitarian instincts of a later age caused their
omission, or even erased them from existing accounts. The writer of
2 K. iii. 27 evidently recognised the efficacy of such sacrifices even
when offered to a foreign deity\ It is sometimes stated that the
deaths of the two sons of Hiel the Bethelite during his rebuilding
of Jericho (1 K. xvi. 34 ; cf. Josh. vi. 26) were what are known as
'foundation sacrifices.' These sacrifices were intended to bring good
fortune to the owners of the house and the custom of offering them is
a very widespread one (see Tylor, Primitive Culture, i. pp. 94 — 7 ;
Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion To-day, p. 184, and P^re Vincent,
Canaan (1907), pp. 188, 195). The loss of Hiel's sons however was
looked upon as something unusual and even if he offered them as
saciifices the custom was sufficiently rare in Israel to excite general
notice.

from our youth. Cf ii. 2.

25. lie down. Cf 2 S. xii. 16 (David on the death of the child
of Bathsheba), xiii. 31, &c.

we and our fathers. 'In Semitic antiquity the whole ritual con-
ception of the purging away of sin is bound up with the notion of the
solidarity of the body of worshippers — the same notion which makes

^ For another explanation of this passage in Kings, see Pusey on Am. ii. 1.

38 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [iv. 1-3

IV. 1 If thou wilt return, 0 Israel, saith the Lord, unto me
shalt thou return : and Hf thou wilt put away thine abominations
out of my sight, then shalt thou not be removed ; 2 and thou
shalt swear. As the Lord liveth, in truth, in judgement, and in
righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him,
and in him shall they glory.

3 For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and to
Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among

1 Or, if thou wilt put .. .and wilt not wander, and wilt swear. ..then shall the nations dtc.
or, then shalt thou swear... and the nations d:e.

the pious Hebrews confess and lament not only their .own sins, but the
sins of their fathers.' W. Robertson Smith, Rel. Sem.^ p. 429.

IV. 1 f Jehovah's answer. Israel's penitence must exhibit itself
in deeds — by a return to the worship of Himself, and by the putting
away of false gods. This conduct will glorify Jehovah in the sight of
the heathen.

1. abominations. The word which is used in Dan. xi. 31 of 'the
abomination of desolation.' It represents the Divine attitude towards
that which was a ' shameful thing ' even in the eyes of human beings
(iii. 24). The word is first found in Hos. ix. 10 and is common in
Jer. and Ez. of the false gods and all the paraphernalia of their worship.
LXX. followed by Ewald, Hitzig, Cheyne &c. reads and if thou puttest
away thy detestable things out of thy mouth (cf Zech. ix. 7) and dost
not wander from before me.

2. The people are evidently in the habit of treating repentance as
an easy thing.

swear. Cf. xii. 16 ; Is. Ixv. 16 ; Ps. Ixiii. 10. To swear by Jehovah
means to be His worshipper.

in truth. Not the mere taking of God's name in vain by the light
use of a formula, ii. 35, v. 2 ; cf Dt. vi. 13, x. 20.

'Judgment is wanting in an uncautious oath ; truth in a lying oath ;
righteousness in an iniquitous or unlawful oath.' St Thos. Aquinas,
Sum. Theol. 11. ii. 89.

3 f A warning to the men of Judah couched in severer tones :
cf Ez. xviii. 30. Cornill quotes Mk, vii. 21 to illustrate these vv.
Just as the thorns must be rooted right out of the ground before
sowing, so must the evils of the heart be overcome ; no mere cere-
monial purification is of any avail but only that 'spiritual circumcision'
which Calvin defined as ' the denial of self

3. Judah... Jerusalem. Also named separately in Is. i. 1 ; Joel
iii. 20, &c.

Break up your fallow ground. The phrase is evidently quoted
from Hos. x. 12. The people are called upon to make fresh ventures
in their religious life and at the same time to cast out the sins which

IV. 3, 4] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 39

thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away
the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of
Jerusalem : lest my fury go forth like fire, and burn that none
can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

had rendered the past iinprofitable by the use of the plough of penitence
and discipline. The new seed must have every chance given it of
bringing forth fruit (iii. 23 6, cf Matt. xiii. 7). No man can afford to
leave part of his nature undeveloped and neglected : if he does it will
produce on its own account and the crop will be one of unsightly weeds
and thorns. The Vulgate rendering Novate Novale is well known from
its use as the title of a Society of Mission Priests founded by Arch-
bishop Benson when Chancellor of Lincoln.

4. ^ Circumcise yourselves. Circumcision was the work of the Old
Covenant, the New Covenant demanded something deeper ; not the
outward circumcision of the flesh but the inward circumcision of the
heart. In this passage Jeremiah seems to anticipate the teaching of
St Paul (Rom. ii. 28 f. &c.) that circumcision is not merely a bodily
rite but also a change of heart. It must be ' an outward and visible
sign of an inward and spiritual grace.' This thought is still further
illustrated by ix. 25.

foreskins of your heart. Cf the similar command in Dt. x. 16 and
also the promise that Jehovah Himself would circumcise the hearts of
the Israelites that they might love Him (Dt. xxx. 6). See further on
vi. 10.

fire. To destroy the thorns : cf vii. 20 ; Am. v. 6 ; Ps. Ixxxix. 47.

Chapter IV. 5—31.

A Description of the Comirig Doom.

All the efforts of the prophet have been in vain, the people persist in
following after the desires of their own hearts and in despising the warnings
of the messenger of Jehovah. But now a real and threatening danger is at
hand, evil is about to break upon them from the North and once again the voice
of Jeremiah, like a trumpet, repeats its warning message. Most critics are
agreed that the prophecies in this and the following chh. were originally
written in reference to the Scythian invasion of c. 625 B.C. (see Introd.
pp. xix, xxx) and that they were afterwards re-written to make them refer to
the approach of the Babylonian army in 604 B.C. The chh. as they now stand
(with the exception of certain passages) might be applied to either adversary
though it must be confessed that as a whole they suit better the Baby-
lonians and their monarch than a horde of unknown barbarians (cf. iv, 7,
V. 15, 19).

40 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [iv. 5-8

The section may be divided up as follows :

(a) The sounding of the alarm. 5 — 8.

(&) The helplessness of the leaders. 9f.

(c) The swift coming of the invader. 11 — 18.

(c/) The prophet s agony. 19 — 22.

(e) Jeremiads vision of desolation. 23 — 26.

(/) Judah is deserted by her lovers. 27 — 31.

5 Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem ; and say,
Blow ye the trumpet in the land : cry aloud and say, Assemble
yourselves, and let us go into the fenced cities. 6 Set up a
standard toward Zion : flee for safety, stay not : for I will bring
evil from the north, and a great destruction. 7 A lion is gone up
from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations ; he is on his way, he
is gone forth from his place ; to make thy land desolate, that thy
cities be laid waste, without inhabitant. 8 For this gird you with

5 — 8. Judah is bidden to make what preparations she can for the
approach of an overwhelming foe : cf. Hos. v. 15 ff.

5. m Jerusalem. Omitted by Giesebrecht as unnecessary and
moreover as being hard to reconcile with Zion in v. 6. The v. is evi-
dently in some confusion and ' it is awkward ' as Peake says ' that one
group of people should be told to bid a second group say to a third
group Assemble yourselves, <&c.'

trumpet (Heb. "i?i^'). The alarm signal usually sounded as a call
to battle, here to flight ; and to be carefully distinguished from the
trumpet sounded in the temple services, though in later writers the
distinction is lost. The word literally means ^orw and may be con-
nected with the Assyrian sappar(u) 'wild goat': cf. Driver on Am. ii. 2.

Assemble yourselves. The same advice is given to the Philistines in
Zeph. ii. 1 ; cf. Joel i. 4, ii. 15, iii. 11.

the fenced cities. The foe was evidently too strong to be met in
the open field : cf viii. 14. For the phrase (lit. cities of fortification)
cf Nu. xiii. 19, xxxii. 17, 36; and see Nowack, Arch. i. 368.

6. standard. Cf. Is. xxxiii. 23 ; Ez. xxvii. 7. Driver explains it
as a way-mark to guide the fugitives (cf. Ps. Ix. 6) : but the reading of
LXX. (^euyere is probably to be preferred to the MT. ; l^^ will then
refer to the snatching up of their property by the fugitives : cf. Is. x. 31.

flee. See on vi. 1.

destruction. Lit. breaking ; cf Zeph. i. 10.

7. A lion refers better to an individual like Nebuchadrezzar than
to the Scythians. The same expression is used in xlix. 19 for the enemy
who is to overthrow Edom.

he is on Ms way. The Heb. (VD^) means literally to pull up and so
from the pulling up of tent pegs to start out.

IV. 8-n] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 41

sackcloth, lament and howl : for the fierce anger of the Lord is
not turned back from us. 9 And it shall come to pass at that day,
saith the Lord, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the
heart of the princes ; and the priests shall be astonished, and the
prophets shall wonder. 10 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! surely
thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying.
Ye shall have peace ; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.
1 1 At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem,
A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the

8, sackcloth. S. A. Cook suggests from the usage of the word
that sackcloth was ' nothing more than a loin-cloth, similar, no doubt,
to the ihrdm of Moslem pilgrims at Mecca,' and having a religious
significance: Enc. Bib. 4182 f.

lament. There is now no trace of any hope such as was to be found
in ii. — iv. 4 : God's wrath cannot be turned away : cf Joel i. 13 ; Mic.
i. 8 ; Jas. iv. 9.

9 f The astonishment and helplessness of Jerusalem and its natu-
ral leaders. All those upon whom the people had leaned and by whom
they had bolstered up their confidence prove wanting.

heart. Usually with the meaning of intelligence, but this context
demands the meaning of courage: cf. Am. ii. 16. All the leaders of
society are to be driven fnto a state of impotence by the news of the
coming of the invader : cf Is. vii. 2.

10. Then said I. The text as it stands is difficult to interpret.
Jeremiah had never prophesied 'Peace' to the city, but always the
contrary (cf Mic. ii. 11). The best solution of the difficulty is to
adopt the reading found in lxx. a and to read And they shall say ; the
words will then come from the prophets of v. 9 who still think that
their 'comfortable' message had been inspired by the Lord : cf vi. 14,
xiv. 13, xxiii. 17 ; 1 K. xxii. 22 ; Ez. xiv. 9. It would be rather hard
to imagine that Jeremiah had himself been deceived by them as the
reading of MT. almost certainly requires.

11 — 18. In this section the invader is described under various
figures ; first as a sirocco from the desert, and then as the clouds
brought up by the wind. The prophet's words, few though they be,
are full of suggestions of horror and swiftly approaching calamity. He
points to the distant and terrible North where the unknown menace is
already gathering force to burst upon the people like the sudden blast
of a desert wind.

11. hot ivind. lxx. -n-vtvixa TrXav7]a€(x)<;. The exact meaning of the
word translated hot is not known ; in Is. xviii. 4 it is rendered clear
(of heat), and in Cant. v. 10 white (of complexion). It seems a strange
word to apply to a wind and perhaps the best translation is gloiving or
dazzling ; the rendering of lxx. in this and other places suggests that
they too were at a loss for the meaning of the word.

42 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [iv. 11-15

daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleauge ; 12 ^a full wind
from these shall come for me : now will I also ^utter judgements
against them. 13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his
chariots shall he as the whirlwind : his horses are swifter than
eagles. Woe unto us ! for we are spoiled. 14 0 Jerusalem,
wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved.
How long shall thine evil thoughts lodge within thee? 15 For

> Or, a wind too strong for this ' See ch. i. 16.

not to fan, nor to cleanse. The wind which was made use of to
remove the chaff will blow away the grain as well (li. 1 f.). The
approaching storm is not a mere warning intended to arouse repentance,
but is to be for the overwhelming of the nation. ' It is not a chastise-
ment to purify the people, but a judgement which sweeps away the whole
nation — both wheat and chaff' (Keil). Wind as a destroying agent is
used in various ways : cf. Ez. xvii. 10 ' a blighting east wind.'

13. Descriptive passages such as this are common in the prophetic
writings (e.g. vi. 22 — 6 ; Is. v. 26 — 30). The Hebrews were essentially
a warlike race and the prophets loved to dwell on the equipment and
fierceness of even an invading army. They are evidently influenced by
something more than the mere desire to draw a picture of what the
people may expect as a penalty for their sins.

clouds. A very forcible figure for the swift and irresistible approach of
the enemy. Just as the clouds gradually overspread the sky beginning
'like a man's hand' and then in a short time darkening the whole heaven
(1 K. xviii. 44 f ), so will the alien armies overrun the guilty land.
Ezekiel has a similar description of the armies of Gog (xxxviii, 1 6).

whirlwind. Cf Is. v. 28 ' their wheels as a whirlwind,' and Ixvi. 15.

eagles. Eagles are not common in Palestine (see Nowack, Arch. i.
p. 84) and the Hebrew word is better translated vultures {gyps fulvus),
the nasru of the inscriptions, which are still found. Their piercing
vision enables them to sight their prey at a distance, and their long
swoop upon it provided the prophets and other writers of OT. with a
simile of an invading army, the force of which would be recognised by
all their hearers. See Dt. xxviii. 49 ; Job ix. 26 ; Hab. i. 8, &c.

14. 0 Jerusalem. The prophet still seems to think that Jerusalem
has time to repent ; or does this v. represent merely his heart-broken
cry over the impenitent city? Cf xiii. 27 and our Blessed Lord's
lament in Lk. xiii. 34.

How long &c. Hosea makes a similar appeal to Samaria and its
inhabitants : 'How long will it be ere they attain to innocencyl' (viii. 5).

evil thoughts &c. Cf. Prov. xxiii. 7; Matt. xii. 35 ; Jas. i. 15; and the
passage in the collect at the beginning of the Communion Office : 'Cleanse
the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit.'

15. For introduces the event which shews the necessity of peni-
tence and at the same time declares its impossibility.

IV. 15-19] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 43

^a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth evil from the hills of
Ephraim: 16 make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish
against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and
give out their voice against the cities of Judah. 17 As keepers
of a field are they against her round about ; because she hath
been rebellious against me, saith the Lord. 18 Thy way and
thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy
wickedness ; ^for it is bitter, ''for it reacheth unto thine heart.
19 My bowels, my bowels! ^I am pained at *my very heart;

1 Or, there is a voice of one that declareth dte. ^ Or, surely

' Another reading is, I will wait patiently . * Heb. the walls of my heart.

a voice &c. It is better to translate as Buttenwieser does :

Hark! a messenger from Dan,

A hearer of evil neves from Mt Ephraim.

The mention of these two places, Dan on the northern border of the
whole country and Mt Ephraim on the northern border of Judah, is
a dramatic way of describing the rapid approach of the invaders : cf
Is. XV. ; and in modern literature Macaulay, Horatius, xvii. — xx.

16. 'Watchers. Duhm suggests the reading leopards; this involves
only a slight change in the Heb. and suits the immediate context much
better. Cf v. 6 ; Hab. i. 8.

give out their voice. As the lion in v. 7.

cities of Judah. This phrase is not intended to lay stress on
the individual cities, it is equivalent to the whole land itself Cf
Jud. xii. 7 (Heb.).

17. keepers of a field. This phrase fits in better with the original
reading watchers in the previous v. ; it suggests that just as those who
have to guard cattle in the field put up booths round about it, so the
besiegers will do round about Jerusalem and keep it in on every side.

18. wickedness. The Hebrews did not distinguish between sin and
its consequences, or even what appeared to be the consequences of sin.
(Cf Kennett, Early Ideas of Righteousness, pp. 6 if.)

19 — 22. A vivid description of the agony of the inhabitants of the
land as represented by the prophet himself This section is of great
interest as being the first of several similar revelations of Jeremiah's
own feelings. The prophet from his youth up had been aware 'of the
great stream of human tears falling always through the shadows of the
world' and his tender soul is now torn by realising the fate which is
coming upon his native land: cf the similar feelings of St Paul as
described in Rom. ix. — xi.

19. My bowels. The seat of the deepest emotions. Cf xxxi. 20;
Is. xvi. 11, &c. There can be little doubt that the speaker is the pro-
phet as the Targum states in so many words.

my very heart. Heb. the walls of my heart.

44 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [iv. 19-.3

ray heart is disquieted in me ; I cannot hold my peace ; because
Hhou hast heard, 0 my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm
of war. 20 Destruction upon destruction is cried ; for the whole
land is spoiled : suddenly are my tents spoiled, a7id my curtains
in a moment. 21 How long shall I see the standard, and hear
the sound of the trumpet? 22 For my people is foolish, they
know me not; they are sottish children, and they have none
understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they
have no knowledge.

23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was ^waste and void ; and

1 Or, as otherwise read, my soul heareth 2 gee Gen. i. 2.

is disquieted. In 'The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs ' Zebulon
describes how he wept with Joseph and his 'heart sounded' (Test.
Zeb. ii. 5).

20 f. It has been suggested that these vv. would apply well to the
Scythian invasion from the sudden approach of the enemy and the
stress laid on plunder : but speed and spoil were not marks peculiar to
any one invader: cf Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Is. viii. 1).

tents, i.e. 'home.' The word was used long after the Hebrews had
abandoned the nomadic Hfe. The practice of the modern Arabs may
be contrasted who refer to their tents as 'houses of hair.' The same
description is used metaphorically in x. 20, and repeatedly in OT. In
xlix. 29 there is a reference to the actual spoiling of tents. Calvin
looked upon tents as being a derisive description of the fortified cities
which collapsed before the invading army.

curtains, i.e. tent-hangings; cf. x. 20, xlix. 29; Hab. iii. 7.

21. Cf vv. 5—6.

22. Cornill rejects this v. as agreeing with its context in neither
sense nor metre. It is possible to explain its position quite naturally
however, the prophet turns from the calamities which are falling upon
the people to the folly and ignorance which have been their cause.

thei/ know me not. 'They display the same temper which the people
had always shewn ; they have a faith in Jehovah but no knowledge of
what Jehovah is.' Davidson on Ez. xxxiii. 24.

evil... good. 'It is part of the miserable blindness of sin, that while
the soul acquires a quick insight into evil, it becomes at last, not para-
lysed only to do good, but unable to perceive it.' Pusey on Am. iii. 10.

23 — 26. Jeremiah describes a vision of the destruction of Judah
under the form of an upheaval of nature. The description is amazingly
vivid and its force is not exceeded by anything similar in the whole
prophetic literature. In it 'inanimate nature is pictured,' as Pusey
says of another passage (Nah. i. 5), 'as endowed with the terror which
guilt feels at the presence of God.'

At first the prophet can distinguish nothing but confusion, then

IV, 23, n] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 45

the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I beheld the moun-
tains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills ^ moved to and fro.

^ Or, moved lightly

gradually he is able to pick out the details of the vision, he sees the
mountains but they tremble, and when he looks for any sign of life he
can find none : the very birds have fled away from the darkened sky :
cf ix. 9.

Many critics regard this passage as later than the time of Jeremiah
(Duhm, Giesebrecht, also Clieyne, and Schmidt in Enc. Bib. 958 and
2390), on account of its lack of connexion with the previous section
and also because they see in its language an apocalyptic tone. There is
no real reason however for rejecting it, the description is obviously
figurative and the gloom overlying the whole picture is projected from
the prophet's own mind and has nothing eschatological about it (so
Buttenwieser, The Prophets of Israel, p. 201).

23. The primitive chaos has returned upon the universe which has
fallen back into the state in which it was before 'the spirit of God
moved on the face of the waters' (Gen. i. 2). 'The order which had
been so beautifully arranged, had now disappeared through God's wrath'
(Calvni): cf Ps. xciii. 1. Cornill thinks, however, that there is no
reference to 'primitive chaos' but that the prophet sees the earth merely
as a horrible waste {and void is omitted by LXX.) without any living
thing upon it: cf Is. xlv. 18.

24. The effect of earthquakes seems to have made a deep impression
on the mind of orientals in all ages, and naturally so. The trembling of
the mountains represents to them the overturning of all that is stable
and trustworthy. Our Lord adopts this kind of language in speaking of
the 'last things' (Mk. xiii. 8, 24fir.) and Muhammed habitually speaks
of the judgement as the day when the mountains will be set in motion
(Koran, Ixix. 14, Ixxviii. 20, xcix. &c.)\

1 Ruskin has a fine passage in which he makes reference to this verse. Speaking
of the mountains, he says : — 'We yield ourselves to the impression of their eternal,
unconquerable stubbornness of strength ; their mass seems the least yielding, least
to be softened, or in anywise dealt with by external force, of all earthly substance.
And, behold, as we look farther into it, it is all touched and troubled, like waves
by a summer breeze ; rippled far more delicately than seas or lakes are rippled ;
tliey only undulate along their surfaces — this rock trembles through its every fibre,
like the cords of an Eolian harp — like the stillest air of spring with the echoes of
a child's voice. Into the heart of all those great mountains, through every tossing
of their boundless crests, and deep beneath all their unfathomable defiles, flows
that strange quivering of their substance.... They, which at first seemed strength-
ened beyond the dread of any violence or change, are yet also ordained to bear
upon thebi the symbol of perpetual Fear: the tremor which fades from the soft
lake and gliding river is sealed to all eternity, upon the rock; and while things
that pass ^isibly from birth to death may sometimes forget their feebleness, the
mountains are made to possess a perpetual memorial of their infancy.' Modern
Painters, v. ix. 6.

46 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [iv. 25-30

25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the
heavens were fled. 26 I beheld, and, lo, Hhe fruitful field was
a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the
presence of the Lord, and before his fierce anger. 27 For thus
saith the Lord, The whole land shall be a desolation ; yet will I
not make a full end. 28 For this shall the earth mourn, and
the heavens above be black : because I have spoken it, I have
purposed it, and I have not repented, neither will I turn back
from it. 29 The whole city fleeth for the noise of the horsemen
and bowmen ; they go into the thickets, and climb up upon the
rocks: every city is forsaken, and not a man dwelleth therein.
30 And thou, when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do ? Though
thou clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with
ornaments of gold, though thou ^enlargest thine eyes with paint,

1 Or, Carmel - Heb. rendest.

25. no man. The prophet suddenly realises his loneliness amidst
the scene of desolation, all created things had been destroyed or had
fled: cf Is. ii. 19, 21.

birds. Cf. Hos. iv. 3; Zeph. i. 3.

26. fruitful field. Heb. Carmel, lit. garden-land, a symbol of all
that was fruitful or cultivated. There is probably no reference here to
Mt Carmel: cf. Is. xxix. 17, xxxii. 15.

27 — 31. Judah in her hour of need finds herself despised by her
lovers in spite of all her arts to win them back.

27. full end. The same expression occurs in v. 10, 18 and many
critics think it is an insertion 'from a later hand to make the warning
less terrible' (Smend, Cornill, &c.). In any case it is a remarkable
thing that whilst all the empires of antiquity, and even Samaria, have
disappeared, yet the Jewish people still exists and that in spite of the
loss of country and dominion. To the non-religious man this must ever
be an astounding phenomenon which can hardly be explained along the
lines of ordinary historical investigation.

28. the earth mourn. The devastation of the earth makes her pro-
ductive powers of no avail.

I have not repented. Cf. Zech. viii. 14.

29. The whole city. Read with lxx. the whole land.

horsemen. The Assyrians were noted for their cavalry and these

would be taken over by the victorious Babylonians, one reason for whose

speedy success was that they inherited the Assyrian military traditions.

bowmen. Cf Jud. v. 11 'far from the noise of archers.'

thickets &c. The natural refuge of the people from the face of their

enemies: cf Jud. vi. 2; 1 S. xiii. 6; and see note on xl. 7.

30. o^-naments of gold, to attract her lovers. There may be a refer-

IV. 30, 3i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 47

in vain dost thou make thyself fair ; thy lovers despise thee, they
seek thy life. 31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in
travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child,
the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that
spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now ! for my soul fainteth
before the murderers.

ence to actual efforts by the nation and its rulers to make its alliance
important in the eyes of other nations: cf. Hezekiah and Merodach-
Baladan, Is. xxxix.

paint. Antimony or eye paint. This was 'applied to the eyelids
either dry or reduced to a paste by means of oils, with a blunt-pointed
style or e3^e-pencil... which is drawn horizontally through between the
closed eyelids. ...This proceeding Jeremiah sarcastically terms rending
open the eyes ' (Keil). The practice is as common amongst the women
of the East at the present day as it was in the days of Jezebel (2 K, ix.
30 ; cf. Prov. vi. 25 ; Ecclus. xxvi. 9). iVccording to Enoch viii. 1 it
was the evil angel Azazel who taught men the use of 'metals and the
art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of
antimony and the beautifying of the eyelids ' : cf Tertullian's use of the
passage in De Cultu Fern. i. 2, ii. 10; and Testament of Reuben v.,
where the daughters of men are said to have seduced the giants by
their ornaments.

hmers. Cf. Ez. xxiii. 5, &c. The reference here must be to allied
nations and not to 'strange gods' as in Hos. ii. 15. If this is part of
the original prophecy it excludes any reference to the Scythians, who
are hardly likely to have been allies of the Hebrews, or even to have
been heard of by them before their incursion into Palestine.

31. anguish (Heb. mv) cannot mean a cry of agony, but the pain
which produces the cry. Giesebrecht, following lxx., accordingly emends
to nni^.

murderers. The metaphor of the woman in travail is suddenly
dropped.

Chapter V.
The Utter Moral Depravity of Jerusalem.

The corruption of the nation is so complete that nothing can now turn back
the instruments of the Lord's vengeance. This ch. brings to a cHmas the
prophetic denunciations which go before it. Jeremiah seeks in vain to find a
single lover of truth or doer of justice in the whole of Jerusalem. Followers of
Jehovah may indeed abound, but he feels that the God whom they serve is not
the God he knows although both are addressed by the same name. It is not
the poor and ignorant alone who have forsaken God but the great men and the

48 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [v. i

nobles in like manner; therefore the prophet despairs of his countrymen and
proclaims the condemnation of the city. The wickedness and blindness of the
people are all the more amazing as they had already received manjv warnings
(cf. V. 3, possibly a reference to the defeat at Megiddo), but they would not
hearken to them {e. 12) and the message of the prophets they looked upon as
mere wind and vanity {o. 14).

Duhm has a rather novel idea that this ch. describes the prophet's sentiments
> after his first visit to Jerusalem, and that the previous chli. come from the time
when he was living in Anathoth. This would account in his eyes for the greater
severity of the succeeding chh. when Jeremiah has realised that the Holy City
itself is in such a state that judgement is inevitable. He draws a parallel be-
tween this supposed first visit and Luther's first visit to Rome. The whole
theory is condemned by Giesebrecht as ' fanciful ' and when it is remembered
that Anathoth was practically a suburb of Jerusalem being less than three miles
from it, it seems impossible to imagine that anyone with interests such as
Jeremiah had could have been ignorant of all that was passing there even in
the extremely unlikely event of his never having actually visited it.

The ch. ends with a further description of the nation which threatened
Jerusalem ; among its terrifying attributes was that of speaking in a strange
tongue. It is somewhat surprising to notice the exaggerated dread and aversion
shewn towards those who spoke a foreign language, the phenomenon is con-
stantly referred to throughout the Bible, from the early attempt to account for
it in Gen. xi. 1 — 9 to the miracle by which it was overcome in Acts ii. 5 — 11.
See further on v. 15.

{a) Rich and poor are alike unrighteous. 1 — 9.

(6) The call to the destroyers. 10 — 19.

(c) The rebelliousness of the people. 20 — 29.

{d) The sin of the prophets. 30 f.

V. 1 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if
ye can find a man, if there be any that doeth justly, that seeketh

V. 1 — 9. The connexion with iv. 31 seems rather sHght; in that
passage the prophet has described Jerusalem in her death agony, here
he returns to those sins which will cause punishment to fall upon her.

1. The search recommended in this v. brings to mind the story of
Diogenes lighting a lamp in the day-time and saying, ' I am trying to
find a man' (Diog. Laert. vi. ii. 41).

Run ye to and fro. lxx. TrepLSpafjieTe, Vg. circuite. The wording
indicates the thoroughness of the search: cf. Zeph. i. 12; Ps. cxxxix.
7 — 12. The command is a general one and is not addressed to any
particular person.

streets. Duhm pictures Jeremiah, a stranger from the country, as
being shocked by the levity and heedlessness of the townspeople.

a man, Cf. Abraham's appeal for Sodom (Gen. xviii. 23 — 32) ; and

V. 1-6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 49

Hruth; and I will pardon her. 2 And though they say, As the
Lord liveth ; surely they swear falsely. 3 0 Lord, ^do not thine
eyes look upon Hruth ? thou hast stricken them, but they were
not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused
to receive ^correction : they have made their faces harder than
a rock ; they have refused to return. 4 Then I said, Surely these
are poor: they are foolish; for they know not the way of the
Lord, nor the judgement of their God: 5 I will get me unto the
great men, and will speak unto them ; for they know the way of
the Lord, and the judgement of their God. But these with one
accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bands. 6 Wherefore
a lion out of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the * evenings

^ Or, faithfulness '■' Heb. are not thine eyes upon.

2 Or, instruction * Or, deserts

other similar complaints (Ez. xxii. 30 ; Mic. vii. 2). The prophets not
seldom looked upon the darker side of things, and there must have
been in .Jerusalem many who were loyal worshippers of Jehovah : cf. Elijah
at Mount Horeb (1 K. xix. 18).

truth includes faithfulness towards God and justice towards men :
cf. Hos, iv. 1.

2. In spite of the most solemn oaths the men of Judah were willing
to perjure themselves. It is interesting to remember in this connexion
that in the earliest Greek conception of a future world the only people
who were punished and tortured were those who had forsworn them-
selves cf Iliad, ni. 278 ff., xix. 259 ff.

3. rock is used in OT. as a symbol of firmness, often in an evil
sense as here, but also in a good sense : Is, 1. 7; Ez. iii. 7 — 9; cf. Lk.
ix. 51.

4. they know not. Cf. viii. 7 ; Hos. iv. 6.

5. The prophet's search amongst the various classes of the com-
munity finds a parallel in the life of Socrates, who describes himself as
going from politician to poet, and from poet to artisan, in search of one
who was truly wise {Apol. Socr. 21 B — 22 e).

6. lion... wolf... leopard. These animals are all mentioned in Hos.
xiii. 7, and the wo//" and the leopard are used of the Chaldeans in Hab.
i. 8. There can be little doubt that it was from this v. that Dante
borrowed the three beasts which appear in Canto i of the Inferno : the
^ leopard... whose skin full many a dusky spot did stain,' the lion, and
the ' 9he-wolf, with all ill greed defiled.'

wolf. The animal referred to was probably smaller than the modern
species, as Herodotus tells us that the Egyptian wolf was 'scarcely
larger than a fox.' It may be noticed that here as elsewhere in OT.
(with the exception of Gen. xlix. 27) the wolf is referred to as an ignoble
animal ; this is in strong contrast with the usage of non-Semitic peoples.

50 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [v. 6-i.

shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities, every
one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces : because their
transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
7 How can I pardon thee ? thy children have forsaken me, and
sworn by them that are no gods: when I had ^fed them to the
full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops
at the harlots' houses. 8 They were as fed horses ^iu the morning:
every one neighed after his neighbour's wife. 9 Shall I not visit
for these things ? saith the Lord : and shall not my soul be
avenged on such a nation as this?

10 Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a
full end: take away her branches: for they are not the Lord's.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt
very treacherously against me, saith the Lord. 12 They have

^ Or, according to auother reading, made them swear
^ Or, roaming at large

A similar difference of opinion prevailed in regard to the ass, which was
highly esteemed by the Arabs for its courage, and indeed gave a title
to one of the bravest of the Caliphs, Marwan II, who was called Al
Hamar (i.e. the ass). Gibbon {Decline and Fall, &c. vi. p. 20, 'Standard
Library' Edition) remarks that this surname ' may justify the compari-
son of Homer {Iliad, v. 557, &c.), and both will silence the moderns
who consider the ass as a stupid and ignoble emblem.'

evenings. Cf Caedmon's description of the beasts of prey around
the camp of Penda, including 'the wolves' who ' sing their horrid even-
song.' The best reading, however, is probably that of marg. steppes or
deserts: cf Hab. i. 8; Zeph. iii. 3\

7. Cf V. 28; Dt. xxxii. 15. 'There is here what rhetoricians call
a conference : for God seems here to seek the judgement of the adverse
party, with whom he contends, on the cause between them ' (Calvin).

8, The Heb. of this v. seems to be corrupt.

fed horses. A similar expression is used in xlvi. 21, where the
Egyptians' mercenaries are called 'calves of the stall'

10 — 19. The Divine instruments are called upon to carry out the
Lord's sentence.

10. For the figure of Judah as a vineyard see on xii. 10.

Go ye up. A summons either to supernatural beings as in Ez. ix. 1 f ,
or to the enemies of Israel as in Is. v. 26, vii. 18.

her walls. The meaning of Heb. is a little doubtful. Driver sug-
gests a slight change which would give the reading vine-rows.

12 f An entirely different conception of Jehovah from that of the

^ Lix. rendering ?ws rwv otKuv represents D^RS iy, an evident misreading of

MT. nimi?.

V. i.-rs] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 51

denied the Lord, and said, It is not he ; neither shall evil come
upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: 13 and the
prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them : thus
shall it be done unto them. 14 Wherefore thus saith the Lord,
the God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make
my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall
devour them, 15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far,

prophets underlies these vv. In the eyes of the people He was their
covenant God and so was pledged to support them, and at the same
time He was not nearly so exacting as the prophets painted Him. In
a somewhat similar manner at the present time the ' man in the street '
in so far as he recognises God at all looks upon Him as an easy-going
Providence; those who declare His message of denunciation and con-
demnation are merely derided by him as ' gloomy ' pessimists.

12. It is not he. Duhm suggests that this is a 'popular saying'
(yolksthumliche Aposiopese) : cf Zeph. i. 12; Job viii. 18. The atheism
of the Hebrews, as of their descendants in the Middle Ages, was practical
rather than theoretical: cf Ps. xiv. 1, and see Introd. p. xliv. They
did not deny the existence of God in so many words, but by their
action they shewed that it was quite safe to ignore Him.

13. Jeremiah constantly lays stress on the unbelieving attitude
of the people towards those sent to warn them : cf Ez. xii. 22 f ,
xvii. 15.

the prophets. Not the 'false prophets' who foretold good things,
but those who, like Jeremiah himself, foretold only disaster : cf
XX viii. 8.

14. The prophets are to be vindicated even if the fulfilment of
their message involves the destruction of the people. Though the un-
godly are like ' brass and iron ' (vi. 28) in their opposition to God, yet
they will be burned up like wood; the word of the prophets which they
had scoffed at and called ivind was to prove a devouring ^re : cf xxiii.
29; Is. i. 31, ix. 7, Iv. 10 f; Ps. cxlvii. 15.

God of hosts. This phrase is used frequently of God by several of
the prophets (Amos, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi) and especially by
Isaiah. It represents the irresistible might of Him who is the leader
not only of the armies of Israel (Ex. vii. 4, xii. 41), but also of the
hosts of heaven (Ps. ciii. 21) and the stars (Is. xl. 26). See Dr Wade's
note in his commentary on Isaiah, p. 12.

15. Three points are to be noted about the invader : («) he comes
from a distance; {h) he is of ancient race; (c) his language is unknown
to the Hebrews. The two first points suit the Babylonians, and the
Assyrian language, in spite of its belonging to the same family as that
of the Hebrews, would hardly be understood by the common people :
cf 2 K. xviii. 26. The second point seems definitely to exclude the
Scythians, who were, according to Herodotus (iv. 5), 'the most recent

4—2

52 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [v. 15-19

O house of Israel, saith the Lord: it is ^a mighty nation, it is
an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not,
neither understandest what they say. 16 Their quiver is an open
sepulchre, they are all mighty men. 17 And they shall eat up
thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters
should eat : they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds : they
shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees : they shall ^beat down
thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustest, with the sword. 18 But
even in those days, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end
with you. 19 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say,
Wlierefore hath the Lord our God done all these things unto us?
then shalt thou say unto them. Like as ye have forsaken me, and

1 Or, an enduring nation ^ Or, impoverish

of all nations.' Dr Peake's argument that Jeremiah 'may well have
thought of the Scythians as a primaeval people like the Nephilim ' is
simply pure conjecture.

mighty (Heb. 1^^^). Lit. enduring. The meaning of this word was
lost by the Jews; and those responsible for the various translations of
OT. (lxx. &c.) seem to depend upon the context for their rendering.
The comparative study of the Semitic languages, however, has brought
to light a cognate root in Arabic, watana = 'to be constant, unfailing.'
The word is very often used of a wady which is perennial or ever
flowing.

whose language thou knowest not. Difference of speech was ever a
cause of dread and uneasiness in the ancient world (cf. Is. xxviii. 11,
xxxiii. 19; Dt. xxviii. 49), and a phenomenon which could only be
accounted for by the direct interference of the Deity Himself (Gen. xi.
1 — 9). On the other hand, a 'pure language' which the nations could
use ' with one consent ' was to be one of the blessings of the coming
age (Zeph. iii. 9).

16. Their quiver &c. This comparison of human weapons — taking
quiver as representing its contents — to an open grave ever ready to
swallow up fresh victims is a very striking one, which nothing but
familiarity robs of its force.

17. In Dt. xxviii. 53 — 57 the Israelites ate their own sons and
daughters, and it is possible to translate the Heb. with this meaning :
they shall eat thy sons and thy daughters (cf. iii. 24, x. 25, they devour
Jacob).

Jig trees would be something of a novelty to the Babylonians, for
Herodotus tells us that they were not found in Babylon (i. 193).

18. See on iv. 27.

19. Such as was the crime, so shall be the punishment ; cf Wisd.
ii. 16.

V. 19-24] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 53

served strange gods in your land, so shall ye serve strangers in
a land that is not yours.

. 20 Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in
Judah, saying, 21 Hear now this, 0 foolish people, and without
^understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears,
and hear not : 22 Fear ye not me ? saith the Lord : will ye not
tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound
of the sea, ^by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it ? and
though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not
prevail ; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it. 23 But
this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are
revolted and gone. 24 Neither say they in their heart. Let us
now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former

^ Heb. heart. " Or, an everlasting ordinance, which it cannot pass

land... not yours. This, again, cannot refer to the Scythians, who
were wandering tribes in search of plunder and not possessed of terri-
tories to which they could transplant whole nations.

20 — 29. The moral blindness of the people which prevents their
realising the power of Jehovah is alone responsible for the fate which
is about to befall them.

20. Jacob. ..Judah. A double address to both Israel and Judah.

21. without understanding. Lit. heartless.

eyes... ears. Cf Mk. viii. 18 and also the saying of Heraclitus : 'Eyes
and ears are bad witnesses to those who have barbarian souls.'

22. Jeremiah is very fond of appealing to the stability of nature as
a witness to the steadfastness of God's promises (xxxii. 20 — 22). He
who has power to keep in check the waves of the sea is well able to
protect His people from the attacks of the Babylonians or from any
other invader. Here, however, he uses the appeal rather to remind the
nation of the majesty of Him against whom they have sinned. This
line of argument would seem to have been calculated to create a deep
impression on the prophet's contemporaries, believing as they did that the
sea was only kept within its bounds by the express command of God
(cf Job vii. 12 'Am I a sea... that thou settest a watch over me?' and
Gen. i. 9 with Driver's note). Even in later times the constant marvel
of the tides has aroused man's admiration. ' How comes it,' says Calvin,
' that the sea does not overflow the whole earth ? for it is a liquid and
cannot stand in one place except retained by some secret power of God. '
Cf Enoch Ixix. 18 ; 2 Esdr. iv. 18.

23. revolting and... rebellious. The same phrase is used in Dt. xxi.
18, 20, and Ps. Ixxviii. 8; cf also Rom. x. 21.

heart. The heart of the people raged against the bounds which God
had set for them in just the same way as the sea.

24. that giveth rain. To ancient peoples the rain was a perpetual

54 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [v. .4-28

and the latter, in its season ; that reserveth unto us the appointed
weeks of the harvest. 25 Your iniquities have turned away these
things, and your sins have withholden good from you. 20 For
among my people are found wicked men : they watch, as fowlers
lie in wait; they set a trap, they catch men. 27 As a cage is
full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit : therefore they are
become great, and waxen rich. 28 They are waxen fat, they
shine : yea, they overpass in deeds of wickedness : they plead not

mystery and was looked upon as the direct gift of God Himself (Acts
xiv. 17), and in its plentifjiness it was a type of His all-including mercy
(Matt. v. 45). None knew whence it came nor why it fell upon the
desolate places of the wilderness 'where there is no man' (Job xxxviii.
25 ff.). The life of every agricultural community, such as -Judah was,
depends very largely on a due supply of rain ; but this was especially
so in the west of Palestine, where the only river, the Kishon, was in
summer nothing but a small brook. 'The fertility of Palestine is
dependent exclusively on the rain which falls in winter and on the dew
of the summer, wherefore it is more clearly and more perceptibly than
in other lands a blessing from above.' Cornill, Hist, of People of Is. p. 1 1.
Cf. iii. 3; Joel ii. 23. In Zech. xiv. 17 rain is withheld because the
feasts have not been duly observed: cf. Iliad, ix. 533 ff.

26. they catch men. Cf. Ez. xxii. 25 'they have devoured souls.'

27. Note the sudden change of figure, the metaphor of the previous
V. introducing a further comparison. Hitzig suggests that the cage was
really another form of trap, woven of willows, into which the birds
were decoyed (cf Ecclus. xi. 30) and the lid shut down upon them.
However the translation cage suits the context better, as it requires a
word describing not the means of stealing but a receptacle for the things
stolen. The Heb. word occurs elsewhere in Am. viii. 1 where it is
translated basket.

deceit, i.e. the gains of deceit.

28. waxen fat. The Hebrews judged ill of fatness deeming it a mark
of self-indulgence (Dt. xxxii. 15, of Israel as a nation; Is. vi. 10), if not
of actual impiety (Job xv. 27 ; Ps. Ixxiii. 7). Julius Caesar, if Shake-
speare is to be trusted, held a very different opinion :

'Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep 0' nights.'

shine. Cf F. D. Maurice's condemnation of the upper classes in
England in 1842 as being 'sleekly devout, for the sake of good order,
avowedly believing that one must make the best of the world without
God.'

they plead not the cause. Judgement is to come upon men for their
neglect of doing what is right, as well as for doing wrong : cf the
General Confession in the Prayer Book.

V. 28-3i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 55

the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they should prosper ;
and the right of the needy do they not judge. 29 Shall I not
visit for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be
avenged on such a nation as this ?

30 ^A wonderful and horrible thing is come to pass in the
land; 31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule
2 by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what
will ye do in the end thereof ?

1 Or, Astonishment and horror " Or, at their hands

30 f The corruption of the nation is due to the religious leaders
and those who support them. Jeremiah is constantly making similar
complaints; vi. 13, xiv. 18, xxiii. 11.

31. prophets... priests. As a general rule the prophetic class and
the priestly in any religion are at variance; in Israel at this time the
regular orders of prophets were evidently under the direction of the
priests and both were united in defending the accepted customs of the
day, the vested interests of their class. Doubtless this instance amongst
others was in the mind of St Jerome when he wrote that ' on searching
diligently ancient histories I could not find that any divided the church,
or seduced people from the house of the Lord, except those who have
been sent by God as priests and prophets.'

my people love to have it so. Populus vult decipi, decipiatur. 'Evil
acquires a sort of authority by time. The popular error of one genera-
tion becomes the axiom of the next' (Pusey). No doubt the people
acquiesced in the teaching of the false prophets because they foretold
pleasant things: cf Mic. ii. 11; Rom, i. 24 — 32.

Chapter VI.
The Invader and his Invincible Might.

This eh. simply continues the prophet's warnings as narrated in the previous
chh. but with a note of greater urgency. In iv. 5 flF., for example, the people
were advised to betake themselves to the various walled cities for safety from
the foe ; in this passage, on the contrary, even Jerusalem itself will not provide
any certainty of adequate protection, and Jeremiah warns his fellow tribesmen
to flee fi-om the city whilst there is still an opportunity for so doing (vi. 1 fF.).
The difference in tone between these passages must be due to the progress of
events and may be explained in one of two ways ; either by taking both passages
to refer to the same invasion, in which case some little time must be allowed to
have elapsed during which the enemy have gi-adually overrun the outlying
parts of the country ; or else to take the warning in iv. 5 ff. as being called
forth by the approach of the Scythians against whose fierce but transitory attacks

56 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [vi. i

the smaller strongholds might aflFord sufficient power of resistance (cf. the ' peels '
erected in the N. of England as places of refuge from the Scottish raiders), and
that in vi. 1 fF. the reference is to the later and more serious Babylonian invasion.
The following are convenient divisions of the ch.:

(a) The call to escape. 1 — 8,

(&) The ruin which is surely coming. 9 — 15.

(c) Judah has not been ignorant of tfie penalty for her sins. 16 — 21.

(d) A further description of the invader. 22—26.

(e) The rejection of the people. 27 — 30.

VI. 1 Flee for safety, ye children of Benjamin, out of the
midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up
a signal on Beth-haccherem: for evil looketh forth from the north,

VI. 1 — 8. A call to the children of Benjamin to leave the doomed
city, the threatened evil is about to break forth from the North. Vigour
and reality are lent to the warning by a description of the conversation
of the besiegers and the methods which they will adopt against Jerusalem,
and at the same time stress is laid on the intense wickedness which is
bringing all this to come to pass.

1. Flee: iwn Hiph. of W- The idea underlying the Heb. is that
of gathering up one's possessions for flight: so in iv. 6; Ex. ix. 19, &c.

children of Benjamin. This may be an address to those members
of the tribe, possibly friends and relatives of the prophet, who were
dwelling in the midst of the guilty city; or it may be merely another
way of describing the whole population of Jerusalem as being situated
mainly in Berijamite territory: cf. Josh. xv. 8, xviii. 16 f ; Ez. xvi. 3.
Duhm accounts for the prophet's despair over the safety of Jerusalem
as being due to his suddenly becoming acquainted with the awful depths
of sin to which it had sunk : see Introd. to ch. v.

Tekoa. This village was famous as the home of the prophet Amos;
it was situated on the top of a hill of considerable area some 12 miles
S. of Jerusalem and overlooking the Dead Sea ; the site is covered with
ruins to an extent of nearly 5 acres, though these probably come from
a later time. In 1 Ch. ii. 24 Tekoa is the name of an individual. In the
Heb. of this v. there is a play on the word blow (lit. strike^ which has
the same root letters as Tekoa. The prophets often enforced their
messages by the use of such devices. The most noteworthy instance of
this is to be found in the long list of villages in Mic. i. each one of which
furnishes the prophet with ' a symbol of the curse that is coming upon
his country, and of the sins that have earned the curse.' G. A. Smith,
ad he. Cf also i. 1 1 f ; Am. iii. 6, &c.

signal. This probably took the form of a beacon : cf Jud. xx. 38,
40; Is. XXX. 27.

Beth-haccherem. Here and Neh. iii. 14. It is usually identified with
a hill called the Frank Mountain — from its connexion with the Crusaders
— which stands between Bethlehem and Tekoa and forms a conspicuous

VI. 1-6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 57

and a great destruction. 2 The comely and delicate one, the
daughter of Zion, will I cut off. 3 Shepherds with their flocks
shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her
round about ; they shall feed every one in his place. 4 ^Prepare
ye war against her ; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto
us! for the day declineth, for the shadows of the evening are
stretched out. 5 Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us
destroy her palaces. 6 For thus hath the Lord of hosts said. Hew
ye down ^ trees, and cast up a mount against Jerusalem : this is

1 Heb. Sanctify. ^ Or, as otherwise read, her trees

emineuce such as would be a suitable position for a beacon : see Buhl,
Pal. pp. 157 f In the time of St Jerome it was known as Bethacharma.
evil looketh forth. The prophet seems to feel the sinister eyes of
Destruction looking down on its prey.

2. comely and delicate one. The phrase is here applied to the
community personified, similar phrases are elsewhere used of the in-
dividuals composing it : Am. vi. 1 ; Is. xxxii. 9 ff. &c. As it stands
however the text is suspicious.

3. Just as flocks eat up the grass so shall Judah and Jerusalem be
devoured by the invader from the North: cf Mic. v. 6 (RVm.).

4. The prophet suddenly drops the pastoral metaphor in favour of
an imaginary description of a conversation between the besiegers.

Prepare. Lit sanctify. Cf the Homeric phrase tepo9 o-Tparo? and see
W. Robertson Smith, Ret. Sem.^ pp. 402, 455 ; Frazer, Taboo, pp. 157 ff.
The expression is not an uncommon one in OT. : cf xxii. 7, li. 27 f;
Mic. iii. 5; Zeph. i. 7; Is. xiii. 3; Dt. xx. 3; Jud. iv. 9.

noon was the time of the siesta (cf xv. 8, xx. 16; Zeph. ii. 4), and
therefore a fit opportunity for a surprise attack.

shadows of the evening. This may be a lament of the inhabitants of
the city inserted between the shouts of the invaders ; or it may be made
by the attacking forces who think that their opportunity has gone (so
Driver).

stretched out. Cf Nu. xxiv. 6 (Heb.).

5. night. The prophet mentions various times during the day to
remind the people that they will have no peace nor security when once
the city is invested.

palaces. The large and stately buildings in which the people took
such pride would be the first resort of the plunderers. It is possible
that Jeremiah looked with disfavour on the luxury of which they were
both the scene and the representatives.

6. A vivid description of the various processes of the siege
preliminary to the final assault.

trees were cut down in ancient warfare for the construction of
siege- works: cf Dt. xx. 19 f where an exception is made in the case

58 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [vi. 6-9

the city to be visited ; she is wholly oppression in the midst of
her. 7 As a well ^casteth forth her waters, so she ^casteth forth
her wickedness : violence and spoil is heard in her ; before me
continually is sickness and wounds. 8 Be thou instructed, 0
Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from thee ; lest I make thee
a desolation, a land not inhabited.

9 Thus saith the Lord of hosts. They shall throughly glean

^ Or, keepeth fresh

of fruit-trees. This v., which is rejected by Cornill on metrical grounds,
can hardly apply to the Scythians who would not be willing to spend
time over the siege of fortified towns.

this is the city to be visited. The MT. is suspicious and lxx. Ah !
false city is to be preferred, unless indeed the whole phrase be rejected
as a marginal gloss.

7. well, v.l. cistern. The difference between a well and a cistern is
that the one is self-originating and self-fed, whilst the other requires
filling and the water in it is an alien element introduced from without.
Cornill prefers the reading cistern as he does not think that Jeremiah
looked upon sin as ' original ' : cf xiii. 23.

casteth forth. Mg. keepeth fresh.

Adopting the readings cistern and keepeth fresh the meaning of the
V. will be that just as a cistern keeps cool its waters and so prevents any
reduction in their quantity by evaporation, so Jerusalem keeps un-
diminished the sum of her wickednesses : see on ii. 13; and for the use
of similar figures cf Is. Ivii. 20; Jas. iii. 11.

violence and spoil (Heb. ""^'I ^^^C) This phrase which has a sinister
and threatening sound in the original is used twice by Jeremiah (here
and XX. 8): it was probably borrowed from Am. iii. 10.

8. At the end of his dramatic sketch of the horrors which are to
come upon the beloved city, the prophet turns to it in anxiety and
tenderness and makes yet another appeal for repentance and amend-
ment.

9 — 15. The ruin which is coming upon the city is only exceeded
by the corruption and impenitence of its inhabitants. ' Keine Hoffnung,
keine Aussicht: alles verloren, alles umsonst' (Cornill).

9. Driver translates Turn back thine hand as a grape-gatherer upon
the tendrils and supposes the words to be ' dramatically addressed by
Jahweli to the chief of the grape- gatherers (i.e. the leader of the foe) ':
cf xlix. 9 i. ; Dt. xxiv. 21 ; Is. xlvi. 3. The reference is a little un-
certain, it may be that Samaria represents the main part of the vine
and Judah the remnant which Jehovah wishes to preserve : but more
probably it is a picture of the small number of Judah itself who will
escape the overflowing invasion.

Duhm and Cornill omit several words of the original, and look upon
the V. as a command to Jeremiah to search for any who are faithful

VI. 9-12] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 59

the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn again thine hand as a
grapegatherer Mnto the baskets. 10 To whom shall I speak and
testify, that they may hear ? behold, their ear is uncircumcised,
and they cannot hearken : behold, the word of the Lord is become
unto them a reproach ; they have no delight in it. 1 1 Therefore
I am full of the fury of the Lord ; I am weary with holding in :
pour it out upon the children in the street, and upon the assembly
of young men together : for even the husband with the wife shall
be taken, the aged with him that is full of days. 12 And their
houses shall be turned unto others, their fields and their wives

1 Or, upon the shoots

and true of heart in the city : cf. v. 1 ff. This omission which they
hase upon metrical grounds certainly helps to bring w. 9 and 10 into
closer connexion with one another.
remnant. See on xi. 23.

10. uncircumcised. The idea underlying the metaphor is a certain
dulness and unfitness for the highest employments: cf. iv. 4, xx. 8;
Ex. vi. 12 (of the lips); Acts vii. 51.

they cannot hearken. Those who resist God's will become in time
incapable of obeying or even of comprehending it.

no delight in it. There are times even in the lives of the greatest
saints when the service of God seems to lose all delight and the soul
seems to be left in loneliness and darkness; often enough the cause
is sin, as here, but this is by no means always the case. The lite-
rature of mysticism furnishes countless examples of this feeling which
in the lives of humbler Christians must be looked upon as a caU
to walk by faith and not by sight and to render to God that adoration
and worship which is His due quite apart from the feelings of the
worshipper.

11. The contrast between the prophet and the people is complete ;
they have despised the word of God and have lost all joy in it and
therefore it no longer exerts any influence over their lives : he, on the
other hand, is full of the Divine indignation which breaks forth in
scathing denunciation of those who have provoked God's anger and
upon whom its consequences must inevitably descend: cf Ez. iii. 14.

pour it out. A slight alteration in the Heb. gives the much better
reading / will pour it out, Lxx. (Kxeoi, and so AV. As the text stands
the imperative is a command from Jehovah to the prophet.

children &c. War is no respecter of persons and neither age nor
sex will be spared in the coming destruction, even the little innocent
children playing in the streets will not escape : cf ix. 20.

12 — 15. These vv. are very similar to viii. 10 — 12 into which ch.
they have probably been inserted.

12. houses... fields ■■■wives. The evils which are to come upon the

60 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [vi. 12-15

together: for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants
of the land, saith the Lord. 13 For from the least of them even
unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness ;
and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth
falsely, 14 They have healed also the %urt of ^my people lightly,
saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 15 ^Were they
ashamed when they had committed abomination ? nay, they were
not at all ashamed, neither could they blush : therefore they shall
fall among tliem that fall : at the time that I visit them they shall
*be cast down, saith the Lord.

^ Or, breach

2 Another reading ip, the daughter of my people, as in ch. viii. 11, 21.
^ Or, They shall be put to shame because they have committed abomination : yea,
they are not cbc. * Or, stumble

people are very similar to those threatened in Deuteronomy, see especially
Dt. xxviii. 30 'wife... house... vineyard' to be given to another; also
Am. Y. lib 'vineyard'; Zeph. i. 13 'houses... vineyards'; in Is. Ixv.
21 f. the people are promised immunity from such evils, 'they shall not
build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat.' It is
interesting to notice the order in which a man's possessions are arranged
in these and other passages of OT. : e.g. the tenth commandment in its
different versions, Ex. xx. 17 'house... wife' and Dt. v. 21 'wife... house
...field.' Commenting on the former passage Dr McNeile says that 'it
is not improbable that this command originally ended at " house," all
the remainder being an enlargement detailing the contents of the house.
Dt., in a more humane spirit, places the wiie first... and governed by a
difi'erent verb.'

3 3. Cf. Is. Ivi. 10 ff. where the rulers are compared to blind
watchmen, grsedy dogs, and shepherds without understanding, whose
one idea is gain and pleasure. See on v. 30 f

14. lightly. Lxx. k^ovdtvovvT€<;. Like faithless physicians they
dismissed their patient without going to the trouble of examining him
properly ; soothing him with the medicine of pleasant-sounding phrases
when what was wanted was the deep-cutting knife of a thorough-going
repentance.

Peace, peace. To the comfortable words of the false prophets
Jeremiah replied with the ominous message ' violence and spoil, violence
and spoil ' : see on v. 7.

15. they were not at all ashamed. The nation had 'a whore's
forehead ' (iii. 3) and so remorse was impossible ; cf Zeph. iii. 5. Such
a people as this made even shame itself avoid them. There is some-
thing Homeric in this condemnation of those who are impervious to the
promptings of aiSw?.

that I visit them. lxx. reads at the time of visitation (ev /catpw
iTTiaKOTrrjs): cf Lk. xix. 44.

VI. i6-i8] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 61

16 Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways and see, and
ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein,
and ye shall find rest for your souls : but they said, We will not
walk therein. 17 And I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken
to the sound of the trumpet ; but they said, We will not hearken.
18 Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what

16 — 21. The fate of Judah will not come upon it unannounced,
nor is the Lord about to puni.sh a people which is iguorant of the
consequences of its misdeeds. The nation, in spite of the continuous
and repeated warnings of God's watchmen, the prophets, has always
been bent on leaving the old paths and following a new made way of
its own.

16. saitk. Better said.

in the ways. At the cross-roads, the point at which a deliberate
choice has to be made.

the old paths. Jeremiah based all his appeals on the experience of
the past, and in doing so he was setting an example for prophets and
teachers in all ages, for ' true reformers do not claim to be heard on
the ground of the new things they proclaim, but rather because they
alone give due weight to old truths which the mass of their contem-
poraries cannot formally deny, but practically ignore ' (W. Robertson
Smith, Prophets", p. 83). Even the old jmths are not without their
dangers and men may be made to stumble therein (xviii. 15).

rest for your souls. There can be little doubt that our Blessed
Lord had this v. in mind when He made the promise of Matt. xi. 29.
In fulfilling the longings of OT. our Lord very often gave to them
a more spiritual meaning than they had had for the original hearers ;
and in referring to this v. He is thinking of something higher than
mere material safety. The pragmatic character of Israelite religion was
first pointed out by Hosea (ix. 10, x. 9, xi. 1 ff., xii., xiii. 1, 6).

This V. forms the text for the sermon in The Canterbury Tales.
The sermon has been well described as ' unmercifully long.'

17. / set. Better to translate with Driver / ever raised up.
watchmen. ' A title of the prophets as espying, by God's enabhng,

things beyond human ken ' (Pusey). By a common and easily under-
stood figure, it describes the prophetic office as one of warning : cf
Is. xxi. 6, hi. 8 ; Hab. ii. 1 ; and Ez. iii. 17.

18 f God justifies His treatment of the nation in the eyes of the
earth and its inhabitants : cf Is. iii. 10.

18. The latter part of this v. seems to be corrupt, as congregation
cannot be apphed to heathen 7iations and even if it could the meaning
would still be obscure. Several critics have adopted Ewald's suggestions
and translate take good knowledge of that which is coming. Peake
prefers Bothstein's proposed emendation wherefore hear ye heavens and
hear witness against tliem.

62 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [vi. 18-21

is among them. 19 Hear, 0 earth : behold, I will bring evil upon
this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have
not hearkened unto my words; and as for my law, they have
rejected it. 20 To what purpose cometh there to me frankincense
from Sheba, and the sweet ^cane from a far country ? your burnt
offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing unto me.
21 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will lay stumbling-
blocks before this people : and the fathers and the sons together
shall stumble against them ; the neighbour and his friend shall
perish.

^ Or, calamus

19. law. The context here seems to require something more
definite than ' direction ' and almost points to the existence of an
accepted code : cf. Is. v. 24, xxx. 9 ; and see on ii. 8.

20. frankincense. In the opinion of many scholars this is the first
mention of incense in OT. ; the parts of the Pentateuch in which it
occurs are by them considered late. Wellhausen, for example, con-
siders that it was 'an innovation from a more luxuriously-developed
foreign cultus' (Hist. Israel, pp. 64 f., 74 n.). It is not mentioned by
the earlier prophets in their condemnations of innovations and here it
is referred to as something strange and new.

Sheba. In SW. Arabia, a country noted for the export of incense ;
cf. Is. Lx. 6, &c. and Virgil's tus Sabaeum, Aen. 1. 416 f. : Milton also
speaks of ' Sabaean odours from the spicy shore of Araby the blest,'
Far. Lost, iv. 162 f

cane. Mg. calamus. It formed one of the ingredients of the
* holy anointing oil ' (Ex. xxx. 23 — 25).

far country. Pliny says that calamus came fi'om Arabia, India and
Syria {Hist. Nat. xii. 48). It is no longer obtained from Arabia Felix,
but is brought to Mecca by pilgrims from the Malay islands (Doughty,
Arab. Deserta, i. 97). Probably India is here meant.

burnt offerings are not acceptable. See note on vii. 21 f

Jeremy Taylor sums up the teaching of this v. in a single sentence.
' It is but a poor return ' he says ' which men make to God, who gives
them all things, when they oft'er Him " a piece of gum or the fat of
a cheap lamb " ' (Dedication to Holy Living).

21. / will lay stumblingblocks. It is God Himself who will make
the people to stumble : cf our Lord's use of Is. vi. 9 f On the thought
of (jod as the cause of the offences which bring punishment upon the
people see 2 S. xxiv. 1 (cf 1 Ch. i. 21); Ez. iii. 20. It was the opinion
of some of the later Kabbis that God had created in man an 'evil
tendency ' and so was Himself the cause of sin : cf Tal. Bab. Qiddushin
306, and Bereshith Rabba on Gen. vi. 6. This opinion was never accepted
universally and Ben Sira protests strongly against those who say 'From

VI. «-37] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 63

22 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, a people coraeth from the
north country ; and a great nation shall be stirred up from the
uttermost parts of the earth. 23 They lay hold on bow and
spear ; they are cruel, and have no mercy ; their voice roareth
like the sea, and they ride upon horses ; every one set in array,
as a man to the battle, against thee, 0 daughter of Zion. 24 We
have heard the fame thereof; our hands wax feeble: anguish
hath taken hold of us, a7id pangs as of a woman in travail. 25 Go
not forth into the field, nor walk by the way ; for there is the
sword of the enemy, and terror on every side. 26 0 daughter
of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in
ashes : make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamen-
tation ; for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us. 27 I have

God is my transgression' (Ecclus. xv. 11 ; cf. Wisd. i. 12 — 16 ; Philo,
De Mut. 4, and De Conf. Ling. 35 f. ; Jas. i. 13). In this passage
stumbling refers probably to misfortunes in the material rather than in
the moral sphere.

22 — 26. The invader is once more described in all the glory and
terror of his advance.

22. Ezekiel foretells the coming of Gomer and the house of
Togarmah 'from the uttermost parts of the North' (xxxviii. 6, 15 ;
also Gog, xxxix. 2).

23. Every feature of the hostile army which could serve to alarm
the men of Judah is emphasised by Jeremiah in order to restore them
to their allegiance to Jehovah ; cf Is. xvii. 12. In times of peril
nothing is gained by half-measures and by concealing the seriousness
of the situation. The account was probably at first intended to apply
to the Scythians but it would equally well serve to describe the
Babylonian cavalry.

cruel, 'frightful' History gives innumerable instances of this
characteristic of the Assyrians and Babylonians : cf for example
Sennacherib's attempt to ' obliterate ' Babylon in 689 B.C. ' The whole
city was sacked, fortifications and walls, temples and palaces, as well
as private houses, were levelled with the ground, the people massacred
or deported, and the waters of the Arakhtu canal turned over the site.'
C. 'W . H. Johns, Ancient Bab. p. 122.

25. terror on exery side. Cf xx. 3.

26. The death of an only son meant the extinction of the family,
a terrible misfortune in the eyes of a people like the Hebrews who had but
a vague and uncertain hold upon the doctrine of a future life ; cf Gen.
xxii. 2, 12, 16 ; Am. viii. 10 ; Zech. xii. 10. In all three places Lxx.
renders a beloved son and many commentators think that they read
T'T for "fn;:. This explanation is as old as St Jerome, but it should be
remembered that the usage of o ayaTr^jros for an oiily son is an idiom

64 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [vi. 27-30

made thee a Hower and a fortress among my people ; that thou
mayest know and try their way. 28 They are all grievous re-
volters, going about with slanders ; they are brass and iron : they
all of them deal corruptly. 29 The bellows ^blow fiercely; the
lead is consumed of the fire : in vain do they go on refining ; for
the wicked are not plucked away. 30 Refuse silver shall men
call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.

1 Or, trier ^ Or, are burned

found in classical Greek from the time of Homer (e.g. Od. 11. 365, iv.
727, 817, &c.), and by the time of Aristotle it had become so common
that he was able to extend the usage and employ it in speaking of
depriving a one-eyed man of ' his only organ of vision ' ; dyairrjTov yap
d(}>ypr]Tat. In Jud. xi. 34 Lxx. (i.e. Lxx. a) reads both fiovoyevrjs and

ayaTrrjTT).

27 — 30. The people are likened to metal which the refiner casts
away as being useless for his purpose.

28. brass and iron. i.e. containing no precious metal, ' Their im-
pudence resembles brass, and their obstinacy may be compared to iron.'
Lowth.

29. lead. ' In refining the alloy containing the gold or silver is
mixed with lead and fused in a furnace... a current of air is turned upon
the molten mass. . .the lead oxidizes and carries away the alloy (J. Napier,
The Ancient Workers in Metal, pp. 20, 23). In the case here imagined,
so inextricably is the alloy mixed with the silver, that, though the
bellows blow, and the lead is oxidized in the heat, no purification is
eff"ected: only impure silver remains.' (Driver.)

The process of purging dross from gold or other precious metal is
almost invariably used of a successful effort in which the impurities are
purged from out the nation ; here the whole nation is dross. In just
the same way St Peter talks of a faith purified by fire, but he is silent
as to the man whose faith is unable to stand the test. Many notions
as to the purifying effects of suffering and pain, whether in this present
life or in a future state, are based on a misleading use of this metaphor.
In any case gold is passive and has to endure the test : man, within
certain limits, has liberty and may refuse to meet it.

30. Be/use silver. Gf. Ez. xxii. 18 'the dross of silver.'

CHAPTERS VIL— X.
A Group of Prophecies delivered at the Temple Gate.

Scholars are not agreed as to the date to which these chh. belong, two
periods seeming to have good claims upon them ; the reign of Josiah and that
of Jehoiakim. If the discourse in vii. 1—28 could be proved beyond all doubt

THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 65

to refer to the same incident as ch. xxvi. the question of date would be settled,
as the latter ch. is definitely headed ' In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim '
(see below for a discussion of this reference). Dean Stanley, who regarded
chh. vii. — ix. as a single discourse, has pointed out the wide scope and repre-
sentative character of this section containing as it does 'almost every element'
of Jeremiah's constant teaching. ' It struck the successive chords of invective,
irony, bitter grief, and passionate lamentation. It touched on all the topics on
which his countrymen would be most sensitive — not only the idolatrous charms
by which they hoped to win the favour of the Phoenician deities,... but on the
uselessness and impending fall of the ancient institutions, which seemed to con-
tain a promise of eternal duration — the Temple of Solomon, the Mosaic ritual,
the Holy Sepulchres, the Holy City, the Chosen People, the sacred rite of
Circumcision' {The Jewish Churchy ir. 449).

The chh. fall naturally into five main divisions which can themselves be
broken up into smaller sections :

A denunciation of excessive regard for the temple, vii. 1 — viii. 3.

The penalty of national sin is national ruin. viii. 4 — ix. 1.

The treachery of the people is the forerunner of destruction, ix. 2 — 26.

The vanity of idols, x. 1 — 16.

The nearness of the exile, x. 17 — 25.

Chapters VH. 1— VHL 3.
A Denunciation of Excessive Regard for the Temple.

There seems to be a great probability that this section gives a fuller report
of Jeremiah's warning to the people as narrated in xxvi. 1 — 9 ; the message and
the place of its delivery are the same; and the date prefixed to the latter
narrative suits the present context most excellently. In the one case the stress
is laid on the sermon itself ; and in the other on the effect which it had upon
those who heard it. In view of the state of the text of Jeremiah and the
absence of anything like chronological order in the book no surprise need be
occasioned by the wide separation of these two complementary accounts of the
same incident. The importance of the message — and of the results which
followed its delivery — is sufficient justification for its two-fold record, for as
Buttenwieser ti-uly says 'The Temple-sermon... formed the decisive event in the
prophet's career. It marked the parting of the ways. In it Jeremiah mercilessly
attacked what the people felt to be their holiest beliefs and institutions, and
mocked at the hollowness of their worship ' ( The Prophets of Israel^ p. 44).
The section may be sub-divided as follows :

(a) The temple is no guarantee of national salvation, hut will itself
share the fate of Shiloh. 1 — 15.

(6) The prophet is no longer to intercede for the people. 16 — 20.

(c) Obedience is better than sacrifice. 21 — 28.

{d) The rejection ofJudah. 29 — 34.

{e) The desecration of the graves of the kings and people, viii. 1 — 3.

B. 5

66 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [vii. 1-4

VII. 1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord,
saying, 2 Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there
this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah,
that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your
doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. 4 Trust ye
not in lying words, saying. The temple of the Lord, the temple

VII. 1 — 15. This sub-section consists of an attack on those who
held the temple to be the guarantee of the safety of the nation and
made worship a substitute for holiness of life ; and this in spite of the
warning contained in the fate of Sliiloh and the Northern Kingdom.

1 — 2. These vv. form the heading of the section and it is probable,
as Cornill suggests, that they represent an attempt to fix the circum-
stances of the sermon for the benefit of a later age (cf xxvi. 1 f ).
LXX. has ' Hear the words of Jehovah, all Judah.'

2. gate (xxvi. 2 court). Probably the prophet stood at the gate
between the outer and the inner court.

3 — 7. The sermon is undoubtedly compressed even in the larger
form contained in this ch., hence, in part, the appearance of tautology
and repetition. The words which would remain most firmly fixed in
the mind of the people would be those which carried the burden of the
message. Jeremiah's utterance has an especial interest because of the
connexion between it and our Lord's action in cleansing the temple
(cf Mk. xi. 15—18).

3. your ways and your doings. A favourite expression with
Jeremiah : cf Zech. i. 6. The word for doings has usually a bad sense
though in Ps. Ixxvii. 12 and Ixxviii. 7 it is used of the works of
God.

,.. 4. Jeremiah's condemnation of the message of those who were the
accepted teachers of the day was nothing less than a declaration of war.
The feeling of trust which the nation had in the inviolate city had
stood the test of history and in addition had the sanction of prophetic
utterances. Moreover since the centralisation of the cultus in the
days of Josiah it was the only remaining sanctuary of Jehovah, and so
|. He was, as it were, bound to defend the city which was identified with
\ His worship. Another less worthy motive which would arouse the fury
of the priests and prophets would be the danger threatening ' vested
interests ' if teaching such as that of Jeremiah became at all popular.
See Introd. p. xxxi.

lying words. Heb. words of deception, disappointment. The word
is often used by Jeremiah to describe the vanity and falsehood of hopes
founded on the message of the teachers who opposed him.

The temple of the Lord. For other examples of this three-fold
repetitit)n cf xxii. 29 ; Is. vi. 3. Dante probably had this passage in
mind when he made St Peter say :

VII. 4-9] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 67

of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these. 5 For if ye
throughly amend your ways and your doings ; if ye throughly
execute judgement between a man and his neighbour ; 6 if ye
oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed
not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods
to your own hurt : 7 then will I cause you to dwell in this place,
in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even for ever-
more. 8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely,

'my seat,
My seat, my seat, I say, which to the eye
Of God's dear Sou is vacant at His feet.'

Parad. xxvii. 22—24.

The Targum suggests that the repetition is on account of the three
great acts of worship, viz. service, sacrifice, and prayer, which were
offered in the temple. (For a coITectron"of similar explanations, see
Payne Smith, ad loc.) Probably the phrase was constantly on the
lips of the people and the prophet was trying to reproduce the effect
of its constant recital; cf Is. xxviii. 10 'line upon line.' Wade in
commenting on Is. vi. 3 compares rpto-jLteyto-Tos, TptA.AtcrTos, and ter felix
(Ovid, Metamorph. vin. 51).

temple. The Heb. word (>T^) is probably derived from the Accadiau
e-gal, i.e. great house.

U,ese. The templeand the buildings which surrounded it : cf Mk.
xiii. 1.

5 — 7. These vv. are Deuteronomic in spirit and in language. The
continued security of the people is dependent on the practice of social
virtues and on the service of Jehovah to the exclusion of every other
object of worship. The prohibition in u 6 of walking ' after other
gods ' seems hardly to fit the context and it is best to omit it The
whole object of .Jeremiah's sermon is to condemn an excessive and
superstitious zeal for the service of Jehovah, and this being so it would
hardly seem necessary for him to go out of his way to declare to the
people the reward which would follow their avoidance of false gods; cf
V. 9 also.

6. the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. These various
classes were without power in the administration of affairs and there-
fore specially liable to be oppressed. The stranger was the alien,
resident for the time being in Judah.

7. todv)ell...in the land. This promise would best refer toa time
when there was actual danger of the people being taken into exile.

8. that cannot profit. Better in order not to profit — the effect of
the action of the people is stated as though it were the motive.

9. steal, murder, and commit adultery. The prophet is probably
referring to the prohibitions of the Decalogue which the people were in

5—2

68 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [vii. 9-1.

and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye
have not known, 10 and come and stand before me in this house,
^which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered; that ye
may do all these abominations? 11 Is this house, which is called
by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes ? Behold, I,
even I, have seen it, saith the Lord, 12 But go ye now unto my
place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the

1 Heb. whereupon my name is called.

the habit of breaking. The order differs slightly from that in MT. of
Ex. XX. and Dt. v. and also from that in Eom. xiii. 9; Jas. ii. 11 and
Lk. xviii. 20. (See list of variations in McNeile, Exodus, p. 119.)
burn incense unto Baal. See on ii. 8 and vi. 20.

10. stand before. To worship and to serve.

which is called by my name. ' The calling of a name upon an object
(or person) designates it as the property of the bearer of the name.'
Cornill.

We are delivered &c. Driver continues in order (forsooth) to do
all these abominations, a possible translation of the Heb. If all these
words are spoken by the people the meaning must be that God has
set the stamp of His approval upon their way of life by the deliverance
which they are celebrating. It is perhaps better to follow RV. and
to restrict the people's speech to We are delivered, i.e. we are in a
state of safety because of the merit of our religious observances (cf.
Gen. xxxvii. 22).

11. den of robbers. The limestone caves of Palestine were much
used as a refuge for brigands between the carrying out of their various
deeds of violence. This v. is quoted by our Blessed Lord in Mk. xi.
1 7 ; and is borrowed by Dante :

'The walls which once were as an Abbey's shrine
Are made as dens of robbers.'

Parad. xxii. 76 — 77.

Behold, J, even I, have seen it. The meaning of the RV. is rather
vague and Buttenwieser's suggested translation is an improvement,
Verily I do look upon it as such {The Prophets oj Israel, p. 12).

12 — 15. The appeal to history. The sanctity of Shiloh did not
protect it in time past, and so in the present Jerusalem will not be
spared if the people do not repent.

12. my place. Heb. Qip?. The related Arabic word makdm is
used in a similar way of a sacred place (cf ZATW. 1914, p. 73, and a
note by Dr Cowley in /. Th. S. 1916, pp. 174 ff.). In the Mishnah and
other later literature the word was used as a substitute for the name
of God Himself.

Shiloh. The modern SeiJuji^on the road from Bethel to Shechem
is generally accepted as the site of Shiloh. It was the place where the

vii. 12-15] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 69

first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people
Israel. 13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith
the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking,
but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not: 14 there-
fore will I do unto the house, which is called by my name, wherein
ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your
fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of
my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole
seed of Ephraim.

sanctuary containing the ark was situated (1 S. iii. 3, 15), and accord-
ing to the priestly writer owed its importance to the action of Joshua
himself (Josh, xviii. 1). This sanctuary was very probably destroyed
when the ark was carried off after the Battle of Ebenezer (1 S. iv. 11);
though there is some uncertainty as to whether Jeremiah is referring
to this destruction, or to some more recent catastrophe (see Additional
Note below).

at the first. Better perhaps ^rwer/y : cf G. B. Gray on Nu. x. 12
{LC.C).

13. rising up early and speaking. The phrase occurs only in
Jeremiah with the exception of 2 Ch. xxxvi. 15. Its meaning is that
God imparts His revelation 'insistently and continuously' (cf Wade
on Is. 1. 4) ; a similar tradition exists among the followers of Muham-
med. (See D. B. Macdonald, Aspects of Islam, p. 218.)

14. wherein ye trust. The people trusted in a formula about God
or His temple and had lost faith in the livfng God Himself : cf Am.
iii. 14, v. 4 f The greatesF obstacle in the way of the progress of the
Kingdom of Heaven is the large mass of ' conventional ' religion which
takes God's name upon its lips and yet avoids any attempt to carry
out His commands. This state of affairs is always partly due to the
professed teachers of the people, whether it be in the time of Jeremiah
or in our own. Cf the striking warning of F. D. Maurice, 'we have been
dosing our people with religion, when what they want is not this but
the living God ; and we are threatened now, not with the loss of
religious feeling, so-called, or of religious notions or of religious ob-
servances, but with atheism.'

15. all your brethren. Omit all with lxx.
Ephraim. i.e. the whole of the Northern tribes.

Additional Note on vii. 12.

The Destruction of Shiloh.

The destruction of Jehovah's place at Shiloh which was used by Jeremiah as
a warning of the coming fate of Jerusalem is nowhere described in OT. as we
have it at present, though Wellhausen has suggested that such a description

70 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

originally stood in the place of 1 S. vii. From the absence of any mention of
Shiloh as a sanctuary after the time of the Judges and from the subsequent
establishment of the priests of the house of Eli at Nob it is generally held that
Shiloh was destroyed at the time of the capture of the ark by the Philistines at
the Battle of Ebeuezer (1 S. iv. 11); so for example Wellhausen says, 'The old
sanctuary at Shiloh was destroyed by them (the Philistines); its temple of
Jehovah thenceforward lay in ruins ^' According to Jud. xviii. 30 f Jonathan
and his sons 'were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the
captivity of the land,' and Micah's image remained at the sanctuary 'all the
time that the house of God was in Shiloh.' These statements suggest that the
priesthood of Jonathan's sons and the existence of the shrine at Shiloh were
both continued until the 'captivity of the land,' and accordingly older writers
referred the words to the Philistine war (see references in Moore, Judges,
p. 400 note) ; recent critics, however, attribute the two statements to different
versions of the story of Micah's image ^. The reference of 'the captivity of the
land' to the Philistine aggression is obviously strained, and a much more natural
explanation is to refer it to the deportation of 734 or 722 b.c. A destruction
of Shiloh at such a date would fit in well with Jeremiah's reference, as apparently
the ruins were still visible, and the event itself was connected in some way with
the fall of Bphraim (see vii. 15). At the same time if Shiloh was destroyed by
the Assyrians it is strange that there is no mention of the fact in 2 K. It is
true that the Northern sanctuaries were regarded as schismatic by the later
writers, but that would not prevent their including an account of the destruction
of one of them, especially if accompanied with circumstances of peculiar horror.

At first sight it seems strange that Shiloh should be thought worthy of
comparison with Jerusalem, but the parallel is a fairly close one, as in the early
days of the nation Shiloh was the central sanctuary. Dr Kennett thinks that
Shiloh, in strong contradistinction to most of the other sacred sites of the
Hebrews which were almost certainly taken over from the Canaanites, was a
genuinely Israelitish sanctuary. 'It is noteworthy that no theophany is related
in connexion with it; no patriarch is buried there; its foundation is associated
jwith no great name ; while on the other hand, a tradition which, though perhaps
jconsiderably modified, cannot be very late ascribes to it the possession of the
•ark^.'

It seems probable that Shiloh whether destroyed by the Philistines or not,
lost its importance with the loss of the ark. The town was in existence in the
time of Jeroboam I (1 K. xiv. 2), but he evidently attached no special value to
it as the site for a new national sanctuary, though his neglect of it might be on
account of its somewhat retired situation. It is not at all unlikely that the town
was still in existence in the time of Jeremiah (xli. 5; but see note ad loc), but
the rebuilding of the town after its destruction would not necessarily interfere

1 Hist. Israel, p. 448; see also Wade, O.T. Hist. p. 211.

2 E.g. Moore, op. cit. p. 399.

^ HDRE. vn. p. 441. Dr Kennett suggests that Shiloh was originally the
sanctuary of Levi when that tribe held territory of its own (op. cit. p. 440).

VII. 1 6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 71

with the riiins of the sanctuary. When Jud. xxi. 12, 19 was written the site
was evidently little known, hence the minute and detailed description contained
in the text ; it may however be as Moore suggests ' merely the archaeological
style of a late author, or an indication that he wi'ote for readers in foreign lands,
perhaps himself lived in exile' {op. cit. pp. 447 f).

Objection has been taken to the fact that since the sanctuary at Shiloh was
only a tent or tabernacle no ruins would survive its destruction. The account
in 1 S. i. — iv. seems however to suggest some more permanent structure, and
according to a Rabbinic tradition the temple at Shiloh had stone walls with a
tent stretched over the top. Traces of a suitable site have been described by
Sir Charles Wilson as situated at Seilun^. The identification of Shiloh with
Seilun was well known to the Moslem geographers^, but was only rediscovered
in modern times by Robinson in 1838. According to Colonel Conder there is no
site in the country fixed with greater certainty than that of Shiloh^.

16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up

16 — 20. The continued idolatry of the people makes it impossible
for God to receive intercessions on their behalf. Several critics are
disposed to look upon this section as being out of its context, owing to
a supposed difference in situation from what has gone before. Dulim,
for example, points out that Jeremiah is no longer in^the temple before
'all Judah' but alone with Jehovah. But even if such a supposition
be correct and it be admitted that the prophet is alone with his God,
it by no means follows that he has left the temple; the withdrawal
may well have been spiritual and mental rather than physical. Many
parallels to this can be found in the life of our Lord, when turning
aside from those who opposed Him, He addressed His Father and
received from Him a definite reply according to His needs (e.g. Jn. xii.
27 ff.). A further objection is urged that idolatrous worship of the
kind here described did^iiot take place in the temple during the reign
of Jehoiakim, and that the section is therefore but 'an embellished
account' (Ausschmiickung) of xliv. 17 — 19. In reply to this it is
enough to say that the cult of the queen of heaven was, according
to most critics, introduced in the reign of Manasseh, it was prevalent
in the exilic jperiod (as xliv. 17 — 19 itself shews), and that in the
meantime many other superstitious practices were in vogue (Ez. viii.).
It is, of course, possible that the effects of Josiah's reformation had
not at this time yet worn off, but the onus of proof would seem to lie

^ ' The ruins of Seilun (Shiloh) cover the surface of a " tell," or mound, on a
spur which lies between two valleys, that unite about a quarter of a mile above
Khan Lubban, and theuce run to the sea.... North wards, the tell slopes down to a
broad shoulder across which a sort of level court, 77 feet wide and 412 feet long,
has been cut out. The rock is in places scarped to a height of five feet.... It is not
improbable that the place was thus prepared to receive the Tabernacle.' PEFQS.
1873, pp. 37 f .

2 Le Strange, Palestine under the Moslems, pp. 477, 527; referred to by Moore.

^ Tent Life in Palestine, i. pp. 81 f.

n THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [vii. 16-18

cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me : for I
will not hear thee. 1 7 Seest thou not what they do in the cities
of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem ? 18 The children
gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women
knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to

on those who deny the existence of such worship, rather than on those
who affirm it.

16 . pray not. The state of the people was worse than at the time
of the exodus when according to Ex. xxxii. 10 — 14 Moses persisted
in his intercessions until ' the Lord repented of the evil which he said
he would do.' Even such powerful intercessors as Moses and Samuel
would avail nothing at the present crisis (xv. 1), and the repeated
attempts of Jeremiah are equally in vain (cf xi. 14, xiv. 11). It would
seem that it is possible for a nation or individual to fall so deeply into
sin as to be beyond the help of the prayers of others (cf 1 Ju. v. 16;
\ Test. XII. Patr. Issach. vii. 1), but it is not for man to decide when such
\ a state has been reached, nor is the sinner necessarily beyond God's
mercy. In spite of this v. Jewish tradition persisted in regarding
Jeremiah as the intercessor par excellence of the nation; cf 2 Mace.
XV. 14; 4 Bar. ii. 3; 2 Bar. ii. 2.

18. children... fathers... women. The worship of the queen of
heaven drew in all the members of the family. It is hardly necessary
to suppose that the prophet is laying stress on the poverty of those
who engaged in this cult ; he wishes to point out that all ages and both
sexes were alike infected by it.

cakes. Probably in the shape of the moon — like the a-eXrjvai of the
Athenians — or in that of a star ; or it may be that they were intended
to be substitutes for animals and so were made in their shape. Similar
cakes were offered to Artemis in the Movvvxta. (For fuller details
see Preller, Griechische Mythologie^, i. 236; Zimmem, KAT.^ 11.
440 ff.)

queen of heaven (lxx. rfj o-TpaTta tot) ovpavov). Called Ishtar by

the Babylonians and 'Ashtoroth of the glorious heavens' in Zidonian

jinscriptions^ The worship of this deity — the national god of Syria

(according to Tertullian, Apol. xxiv. — was especially cultivated by

women. Cf Milton, Parad. Lost, 1. 438 — 441 :

'Ashtoreth whom the Phoenicians called
Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent Horns;
To whose bright Image nightly by the Moon
Sidonian virgins paid their Vows and Songs.'

Ishtar was the planet Venus, and not the moon (see Cornill, ad he),
and the worship here described was probably paid to that planet. Euse-

1 She was called the Heavenly Goddess or the Heavenly Aphrodite by the
Greeks (Herod, i. 105, iii. 8; Pausan. i. xiv. 7). Tertullian (Apol. xxiii.) and
St Augustine {De Civ. Dei, ir. 4) refer to her as the Heavenly Virgin.

VII. i8-2i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 73

pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke
me to anger. 19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord;
do they not provoke themselves, to the confusion of their own
faces? 20 Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, mine
anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon
man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon
the fruit of the ground ; and it shall burn, and shall not be
quenched.

21 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel : Add your

bius identifies Astarte with Venus (Pragjo. ^a;?^^. i. 10); cf. also Suidas'

statement Ao-Taprr; r\ Trap' 'EAXi/o-iv 'Ae^poStrr; AcyoyU-eVr/, B(.o<i StStovtW;

and Cicero, De natura deorum, ni. xxiii. 59.

"pour out drink offerings. The libation was a common form of off'ering
and there are traces of its having formed part of the worship of Jehovah
(Gen. XXXV. 14; Nu. xv. 5; 1 S. i. 24, x. 3; Hos. ix. 4; cf also 1 S.
vii. 6; 2 S. xxiii. 16).

anger. Better chagrin, a word which occurs very firequently in
Jeremiah.

20. The eff"ects of man's sin are seen even in the world of natural
things, 'the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together.' Further
illustrations of this can be found in the traditions concerning the Fall
and the Flood where the curse which came upon man came also upon
man's humbler companions. At the same time in some mysterious way
the eff"ect of Christ's atoning arid reconciling work is not limited merely
to the human part of creation : Eph. i. 10; Col. i. 20. It can hardly
be, however, that the beasts are punished for their own sins, as is
the case in the quatrain of Archilochus, '0 father Zeus, thine is the
dominion of heaven : thou seest men's deeds of wickedness and right :
thou regardest the insolence and justice of beasts ^'

21 — 28. 'Obedience is better, than sacrifice.' In this section Jere-
miah is once more back amongst the people in the temple area and his
utterance in the name of God would fall on their startled ears with all
the shock of blasphemy and impiety. The whole system of the popular
religion was founded on the due performance of the established ritual,
and to neglect or to despise it, was, in their eyes, a much more serious
off'ence against God than failure to fulfil the requirements of the moral
law. To speak of their burnt-offerings and sacrifices as mere flesh — 'so
much butcher's meat' as we might say — which had no sanctity and
could therefore be eaten by anybody, was a crime and an outrage of the
utmost gravity. But when the prophet went on to deny not only the
utility of their customs in the present, but also the sanction which
they had received from the past, the fury of his hearers was increased
to the utmost. Jeremiah had thus committed the double offence which

^ Quoted by J. Adam, Religious Teachers of Greece, p. 86.

74 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [vii. 21-28

burnt oiFerings unto your sacrifices, and eat ye flesh. 22 For I
spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day
that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt
offerings or sacrifices: 23 but this thing I commanded them,
saying. Hearken unto my voice, and I will be your God, and ye
shall be my people : and walk ye in all the way that I command
you, that it may be well with you. 24 But they hearkened not,
nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in
the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not
forward. 25 Since the day that j^our fathers came forth out of
the land of Egypt unto this day, I have sent unto you all my
servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them :
26 yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but
made their neck stiff : they did worse than their fathers.

27 And thou shalt speak all these words unto them ; but they
will not hearken to thee : thou shalt also call unto them ; but
they will not answer thee. 28 And thou shalt say unto them.
This is the nation that hath not hearkened to the voice of the

in later times cost St Stephen his life, he spoke both against the holy
j place and against the /««<; (Acts vi. 13).

21. burnt offeriiigs... sacrifices. The very sacrifices specified in Dt.
xii. 6; the former were burned entire; of the latter the kidney fat was
burned, the priests had tlieir portion, and the rest was cooked and eaten
in the sanctuary. (For further details see McNeile, ii'a^orfMS, p. 124.) In
God's sight there was no distinction between sacrifices and mere flesh
when off'ered by unworthy worshippers.

22. / S2yake not. 'Cf. similar statements in vi. 20, xi. 15, xiv. 12;
Am. V. 21—24; Hos. vi. 6, viii. 13 ; Is. i. 10—12, and Mic. vi. 6—8, and
see Additional Note below.

the day. The reference cannot be limited to the period actually
following the exodus from Egypt, but includes the wandering in the
4 wilderness.

23. The relation between Israel and Jehovah was one of mutual
benefit, the Divine aid and guidance was conditional, and depended on

(the obedience of the people. In a similar way the Cliristian at his
baptism receives certain privileges from God and in return certain vows
are made on his behalf

24. they hearkened not. Cornill points out that this v. is hard to
reconcile with the statement in ii. 2; cf also xxii. 21.

stubbornness. See on iii. 17.

25 f Very similar to xi. 7 f and cf Am. ii. 10, iii. 7 f ; Hos. xii. 13.

26. worse than their fathers. Cf Hor. Odes, ill. 6.

VII. ^s] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 75

Lord their God, nor received instruction: ^truth is perished,
and is cut off from their mouth.

^ Or, correction ^ Or, faithfulness

28. This is the nation. The history of Israel has been one continuous
record of stubbornness and rebellion, and in his innermost heart the |
prophet knows that the future holds no prospect of improvement: c£
Ps. xii. 4, and Zeph. iii. 2 which is almost identical.

Additional Note on vii. 22.
, Sacrijice in the Wilderness.

At first sight Jeremiah's statement, as we have it in E W., that God gave
no commands as to sacrifices and bm-nt offerings during the wilderness period
is exceedingly startling and unexpected. Even tAie most drastic critic con-
siders that some, at any rate, of the sacrifices went back to the exodus. What
is the explanation? Before going on to consider the various answers to the
enquiry, a somewhat similar statement in Am. v. 25 should be noticed. Amos,
speaking in God's name, challenged the men of Israel 'Did ye bring unto
me sacrifices and ofi"erings in the wilderness ? ' obviously expecting an answer in
the negative. 'Amos means that during the whole of the wilderness wanderings
the Israelites did not bring Jahveh sacrifice or offering ; from which it follows
that sacrificial worship cannot be the indispensable condition of maintaining
Jahveh's gracious relation toward Israeli' This passage therefore supports
Jeremiah's contention. It should, however, be pointed out that the suggestion
has been made that the passage is merely a statement that it was not sacrifices
only that were offered, but also 'true worship of the heart and righteousness,
public and private-'; and this explanation has been accepted by no less a
critic than W. R. Harper, who says 'This rendering places the emphasis in its
proper place and does not compel Amos to say that there were no sacrifices
or offerings in the wilderness^.'

The explanation of the meaning of Jeremiah's words which is current in the
predominant school of criticism may be given in the words of Driver. 'When
Jeremiah wTote, the priestly parts of the Pentateuch had in all probability not
yeC been combined with the rest of the Pentateuch, and the reference here is
to the latter. Sacrifices are indeed enjoined in JE (Ex. xxiii. 14 — 19), and
Deuteronomy, but little stress is laid upon them ; and the pt'omises (as here
" in order that it may be well with you ") are annexed more generally to loyalty

1 E. A. Edghill, Westminster Commentary ad loc.

2 Macdonald, JBL. xviii. pp. 214 f.

' Amos and Hosea (ICC), p. 136. Dr Harper here goes against the great
majority of critics, amongst others Ewald, Wellhausen, G. A. Smith, Driver,
Marti.

76 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

to Yahweh and the refusal to follow after other gods.' Against this explanation
it may be urged that, in spite of Driver's distinction, Deuteronomy would be
equally excluded by Jeremiah's statement, for it contains even in its oldest
parts recognitions of the origin of sacrifice in the wilderness period (e.g. xii. 5 ff.,
13, XV. 19 ff., xvi. 2, 5ff., xvii. 1, &c.). For those who agree with Dr Kennett
in placing the composition of Deuteronomy in the exilic period this argument
of course raises no difficulty, but to the follower of the Wellhausen school it is
distinctly inconvenient. Further, the very sacrifices mentioned by Jeremiah,
'burnt ofl"erings or peace ofi'erings' are named in the Book of the Covenant
(Ex. xxiii. 14 ff.) as essential to the ritual of worship even in the earliest times.
The present writer finds himself unable to agree with Driver that the less
frequent commands in regard to sacrifice contained in Dt. and JE exclude
them from the scope of Jeremiah's statement. The command to sacrifice is
admittedly contained in them ; and therefore it follows that either the books
were unknown to the prophet ; or else that he did not recognise their authority.
It is quite possible to argue that Jeremiah, carried away by his hatred of the
sacrificial system as he found it in his own day, refused to believe that it
could have had a Divine origin ; his accusations of forgery against the scribes
(viii. 8) may have been called forth by their producing commands in the Book
of the Covenant, for example, upholding the official cultus. Some such ex-
iplanation as this seems necessary to the present writer if the vc. are to be
translated as in EVV.

The question, however, of the meaning of the passage is by no means clear,
and an alternative translation is grammatically possible; furthermore this
translation avoids the difficulties involved in any explanation which may be
suggested on behalf of the more usual rendering. The variation turns on the
use of the Hebrew expression im"'?!? which EVV., following lxx., translate
concerning. Another meaning of the phrase is because of ^ for the sake of
which is the rendering in Gen. xii. 17 'the Lord plagued Vh'AY&o\\... because of
("laT"?!?) Sarai Abram's wife' ; and in Dt. iv. 21 'the Lord was angry with me
fcyr your sakes' (DDnn-'?r). In 2 S. xviii. 5 EVV. translate 'the king gave...
charge concerning Absalom' CiaT*?!;), but the context supports the rendering
'/yr the sake of Absalom' equally well, and is indeed the translation adopted
by Kautzsch. In Jer. xiv. 1 the same phrase is used and translated ^concerning
the drought' (nnV^n ■'"iIt'pi?), but it would be quite in keeping with the context
to render it 'on account of the drought.' If this meaning is attached to the
phrase in the present passage, Jeremiah's statement would then be rendered
'I spake not unto your fathers. . .for the sake of or on account of burnt offerings.'
In other words the prophet is emphasising the fact that God did not reveal
\Himself to the people in order to obtain their sacrifices, a rendering which
lobtains support from v. 21 ; the two vo. might be paraphrased 'eat your own
meat yourselves, God doesn't want it' The same lesson exactly is taught in
Ps. 1. 12 f ' If I were hungry, I would not tell thee : for the world is mine and
all the fulness thereof.' God wanted the hearts of His people not their ofi'erings.
This is the reality vmderlying all sacrifice, and where the thing symbolised is

VII. 29-3i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 11

lacking, the symbol is but a mockei-j' and intrinsically valueless. That it seems
to me was Jeremiah's meaning in this passage ; he was not denying the cherished
belief of the people that the sacrificial system was of Divine origin, but he was
trying to restore to them a worthy notion of the meaning of that system. ' In
the writings of Jeremiah, on the eve of the long exile, when the sacrificial ritual
became impossible, it was natural in the order of divine Providence that the
realities symbolised by sacrifices should be brought into prominence^.'

29 Cut oiF Hhine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and
take up a lamentation on the bare heights ; for the Lord hath
rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. 30 For the
children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight, saith
the Lord : they have set their abominations in the house which
is called by my name, to defile it. 31 And they have built the

^ Heb. thy crown.

29 — 31. Jerusalem is called upon to lament because God has for-
saken her.

29. No person is named in the text but the verbs are fern. sing, in
the Hebrew and there can be little doubt that the section is an appeal
directed to Jerusalem (as EVV. take it) or to some personification of
the nation.

hair. Heb. crmvn. Cf Job i. 20; Mic. i. 16. Keil sees in this
command a reference to the Nazirite's vow (Nu. vi. 7). Jerusalem U
has broken her vows and so, like a faithless Nazirite, she may also cut
off the hair which was their symbol.

take up. Cf Nu. xxiii. 7, &c., and the word NJ:'0=burden used of
a discourse (xxiii. 33 ff.).

lamentation. Heb. Qinak : the special form of verse used in Hebrew
elegies (see E. G. Kmg, Early Religious Poett-y of the Hebrews, pp. 39 ff.).
Jeremiah often adopts it as a medium for his prophecies but it hardly
seems necessary, with Duhm, to reject those prophecies which are not
written in this metre.

bare heights. See on iii. 31.

generation of his wrath. The generation upon whom the accumu-
lated anger of God is about to fall — a strange phrased

30. abominations. See on iv. 1. Giesebrecht thinks that there is
here a reference to the doings of Manasseh (2 K. xxi. 5, 7). This may
well be so, but it would be easier to imagine that Jeremiah had in mind
the evils of his own day. In the time between the two captures of
Jerusalem evils were practised which seem exactly to fit the terms of /
this condemnation; cf. Ez. viii. and for similar language v. 11, vii. 20.

1 Westcott on Hebrews viii. 12.

^ Lxx. Ty]v iroiovaav ravra evidently read riNT Ht^y,

78 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [vii. 3., 32

high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hin-
nom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire ; which
I commanded not, neither came it into my ^mind. 32 Therefore,
behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be
called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The
valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, ^till there

1 Heb. heart. ^ Or, because there shall he no place else

31. Topheth. Lxx. TacfteO seems to point to a different vocalisation
and it is very probable that the word was read as Bosheth and that the
Massoretes retained the consonants of the original word but pointed
them with the vowels of ^^^'3. It is to be noticed that in xxxii. 35
Baal is read in a similar phrase instead of Topheth, and Bosheth is often
used as being equivalent to Baal (see on iii. 24). Many scholars con-
nect the word with an Aramaic root meanin'g 'fire-place'; cf Is. xxx.
33 and Wade's note.

valley of the son of Hinnom. The meaning and origin of the name
are lost though various attempts have been made to recover them ;
cf. Rashi, 'the son of sobbing.' Graf also would derive it from the
Arabic hanna 'to whimper.' A similar disagreement exists as to the
site of the valley ; some experts identify it with the Tyropoeon, the
central of the three valleys which meet at the pool of Siloam (so
Robertson Smith, Enc.Brit.'' and Sayce, PEFQS. 1883, p. 213) ; others
prefer the Kidron which runs parallel to it to the East (so Warren,
HDB. II. 287); the greater number of modern scholars however are
in favour of its identification with the Wddy er-Rabdbl which runs
below the SW. corner of Jerusalem (Wilson, Smith's DB.^; Buhl, Pal.
132). For the arguments in support of the various views see HDB.
and Enc. Bib. ('Hinnom 'and 'Jerusalem'). Many legends have clustered
round this valley, amongst them being that of a subterranean fire which
lay below Gehenna and which was to be the scene of the punishment
of apostate Jews: cf Enoch xlvii. 6, xlviii. 9; Matt. v. 29 f, and see
Weber, JUd. Theol. pp. 341 ff.

burn their sons and their daughters. See on iii. 24 ; Wade's note on
Is. Ivii. 5 ; and W. R. Smith, Eel. Sem.' p. 464.

32 — 34. The recital of the sins of Israel is an introduction to the
statement of the terrible punishment which is about to overtake them.
The scene of the slaughter of their innocent children is to be the scene
of their own slaughter. This is an instance of 'the principle of com-
pensation' in punishment which the writer of Wisdom is so fond of
declaring: 'by what things a man sinneth by these he is punished'
(xi. 16; cf xii. 23, xvi. 1; also Philo, Vit. Mos. i. 17).

32. bwy in Topheth. Driver explains that 'the land will be so
full of corpses that they will have to be buried even in the unclean
place of Topheth.' (Following the reading of mg. which represents the
original better than does the text.) Against this it may be argued that

VII. 33-viii. 2] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 79

be no place to hury. 33 And the carcases of this people shall
be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the
earth ; and none shall fray them away. 34 Then will I cause to
cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem,
the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom and the voice of the bride : for the land shall become
a waste.

VIII. 1 At that time, saith the Lord, they shall bring out the
bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and
the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the
bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves: 2 and
they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the
host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served,

those who had offered sacrifice there would hardly look upon the place
as unclean. The real meaning of the v. is obscure and the text possibly
corrupt. Duhm rejects the v. as an ex 2^ost facto explanation of the
custom of burying in Topheth.

33. fray. Old English = frighten away : cf the action of Rizpah
(2 S. xxi. 10). The word occurs also in Dt. xxviii. 26; Zech. i. 21;
1 Mace. xiv. 12, &c.

34. Jeremiah had a deep appreciation of the joys which life affords;
he was no mere pessimist and harbinger of woe whose only desire was
to make others as miserable as himself

VIII. 1 — 3. The graves of the princes and of the people are to be
desecrated and their corpses spread out before the heavenly bodies whom
they had vainly worshipped.

1. All classes of the population had sinned and therefore punish-
ment would fall upon all, even the dead were not exempt. The exposing
of a dead body was considered to entail dreadful consequences on the
spirit to whom it belonged. The desecration here spoken of may have
been deliberate and intended as a further insult to the defeated who
were thus shewn to be incapable of defending either 'the ashes of
their fathers ' or ' the temple of their God ' ; or it may have occurred in
the search for buried treasure. Asshurbanipal warned his enemies that
his enmity would follow them even into the grave ; KB. 11. 193.

2. spread. Cf Aeschylus, Clioephorae, 980 ff. where Orestes lays
the instruments of guilt beside the dead bodies of his father's murderers
in the sight of ' the all-seeing-sun.'

before the sun. Cf. Nu. xxv. 4; 2 S. xii. 12.

sun. Sun worship according to H. P. Smith, Religion of Israel,
p. 68, is not a Syrian custom though traces of it are found in place
names (e.g. Beth-shemesh), because the sun is hostile to the crops rather
than favourable.

Jiost of heaven. Cf. xix. 13. This worship is usually held to be a

80 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [viii. ., 3

and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought,
and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor
be buried ; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue
that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places
whither I have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts.

late innovation though it soon became popular and appears to have
been much in favour with the later kings of Judah: cf Zeph. i. 5;
Ez. viii. 16. The very means by which men were intended to be led
to worship the Creator became a snare to drag them down into idolatry :

cf St Athanasius, de Inc. XII. 3 'Efov ovv rjv dvafS\€\f/avTa<; avTOV? ets TO
/teyc^os Tuv ovpavov...yvu)vai tov TavTrf<; -qytjxova. The worship of the host

of heaven was not altogether an unprofitable piece of superstition;
through their worship men began to take an intense interest in the
movements of the divine beings by whom they imagined their lives
were influenced, and so arose the first attempts at a scientific study of
the stars. The superstitions of the astrologer laid the foundation for
the discoveries of the astronomer, and at the same time provided him
with material — in the shape of early observations — by which his calcu-
lations could be tested and verified.

v)hom they have loved &c. The prophet in bitter irony enumerates
these witnesses of the future dishonour of the nation — the very powers
upon whose aid the people were relying for their safety. The heaping
up of verbs describing the foolishness of the people adds to the^rony.

dung. Always used of unburied corpses ; cf ix. 2, xvi. 4, &c.

3. This V. presents a picture of the absolute and utter despair into
which the nation will fall. They will long for death as for 'hid treasures '
(Job iii. 21; cf vii. 15), and death itself 'will flee from them' (Rev.
ix. 6).

Chapters VIH. 4— IX. 1.

The Penalty of National Sin is National Ruin.

This section relates apparently to the same situation as the former one;
Cornill, indeed, thinks that it must be looked upon as a variant account of the
preceding temple-sermon, though he does not deny that it comes from Jeremiah
himself. In the last few vv. of the previous section (vii. 29— viii. 3) the prophet
had given a description of the doom which will come upon the nation ; in the
opening vv. of this section he describes once again the sins of the people which
are bringing it about. In doing so he lays stress in the manner of Isaiah (cf.
Is. i. 3), on the faithfulness of the members of the animal creation to the in-
stincts which govern them ; in contrast to this the faithlessness of Judah becomes
all the more unnatural. The section ends with a picture of hopeless ruin and

VIII. 4-7] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 81

incurable sin such as to call forth the tears of the speaker himself as he con-
demns it.

{a) The contrast between man and the fowls of the air. 4 — 9.

(6) The benumbing terror of the invasion. 10 — 17.

(c) The prophet's distress. 18— ix. 1.

4 Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord :
Shall men fall, and not rise up again ? shall one turn away, and
not return ? 5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back
by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to
return. 6 I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright:
no man repenteth him of his wickedness, saying. What have I
done? every one Hurneth to his course, as a horse that rusheth
headlong in the battle. 7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth

^ Or, turneth away in hin course

4 — 9. Jehovah complains of the heedlessness of the men of Judah
who rely on their privileges and refuse to repent and to seek after Him ;
the bitter contrast with the birds of the heaven.

4. Shall men fall &c. In the ordinary affairs of life if a man makes
a mistake or follows a course of conduct which turns out to be un-
profitable he retraces his steps as best he can ; so it was to have been
expected that Judah would have already given heed to the warnings
which had come to her. The comparison is between the conduct of an
individual in his practical life and of a nation in its religious life.
St Chrysostom argued from this v. that no sinner need ever despair of
repentance.

5. of Jerusalem, lxx. omits.

deceit. Israel not only refuses to rise up again ; she will not even
admit the possibility of a fall. It was this self-deceit which made
repentance impossible: cf. v. 3, vii. 28, ix. 6.

6. / hearkened and heard. God Himself is waiting to hear the first
cry of penitence— and He waits in vain. The men of Judah counted
His 'lohgsuffering' as mere 'slackness' and refused to return; c£
2 Pet. iii. 9.

as a horse. A very forcible picture of men continuing in sin: cf
ii. 23 f for the use of a somewhat similar figure ; and for a description
of the glory of the war-horse see Job xxxix. 21 — 25.

7. The failure of Judah to return to God reminds Jeremiah by
contrast of the sudden, yet regular, return of the various migratory
birds in response to the voice of instinct within them ; ' they remain
faithful to their land, Israel... returns not to Jehovah' (Duhm). This
obedience on the part of the animal creation further suggests to him
that Judahj with all the privilege, not of an implanted instinct, but of
an open ordinance, fails to practise a like obedience to God. The prophet

82 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [viii. 7, 8

her appointed times; and the turtle and the swallow and the
crane observe the time of their coming; but my people know
not the ^ordinance of the Lord. 8 How do ye say, We are wise,

1 Or, judgement

does not, however, intend to teach that sinning and repentance are both
part of the natural relation between man and God, and therefore to be
accepted as inevitable, like the flight and return of the birds. Dante,
too, has noticed the obedience of birds to their instincts :

'doves, when love its call has given,
With open steady wings to their sweet nest
Fly.' Inf. Y. 82 S.

stork. Two species of stork are found in Palestine, the White which
is a passing visitor ' usually met with during the month of April,' and
the Black which though a native is little known from its habit of living
in the desert away from human habitations.

turtle. Seven species of dove are found in Palestine. Dr Shipley
thinks that the reference here is to the Turtur communis or auritus,
the most common dove in Palestine to which it begins to return in April
(Enc. Bib. 1130). Its coming marks the approach of spring (Cant. ii. 12).

swallow. This bird returns to Palestine about the same time as the
stork and the turtle.

crane. Noted for the ' loud and trumpet-like sounds ' to which it
gives utterance.

8. This V. is a difficult one to explain ; there is no doubt however,
if the true meaning of the original text is still preserved, that in it
Jeremiah repudiates the authority of the law of the Lord which was
recognised by the leaders of the people, and even accuses the scribes of
deliberate forgery. The word for law as explained above (see on ii. 8)
means ' direction ' and the reference here must be to some written body
of such traditional ' direction.' It is possible that the prophet had in
mind ' the book of direction ' found in the temple by Hilkiah (2 K.
xxii. 8) ; this is the opinion of Marti, Wellhausen, Duhm, Cornill and
other critics who identify the book, at any rate in part, with Deutero-
nomy. If their theories are correct the traditions thus condemned now
form part of our Canonical Scriptures. On the other hand the reference
may be to a deliberate attempt on the part of opposing prophets to
falsify the law (so Klamroth, Die judischen Exulanten in Bahylonien).
Driver suggests that the scribes brought this accusation upon themselves
'by claiming to have Yahweh's sanction for practices or ceremonial
usages, of which in reality He did not approve' (cf vii. 22). In a
somewhat similar way the early Christians accused each other of alter-
ing the words of Scripture and even of inventing new gospels, though
the extent to which these accusations were made has probably been
exaggerated (cf Origen, c. Cels. 11. 27).

We are wise. Cf Is. v. 21; Prov. iii. 7 'Be not wise in thine own
eyes.'

VIII. 8-14] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 83

and the law of the Lord is with us? But, behold, the false pen
of the scribes hath brought falsely. 9 The wise men are
ashamed, they are dismayed and taken : lo, they have rejected
the word of the Lord; and what manner of wisdom is in them?
10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields
to them that shall possess them : for every one from the least
even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet
even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. 11 ^And they
have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people lightly, saying,
Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 12 Were they ashamed
when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at
all ashamed, neither could they blush : therefore shall they fall
among them that fall : in the time of their visitation they shall
be cast down, saith the Lord. 13 I will utterly consume them,
saith the Lord : there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs
on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and ^the things that I
have given them shall pass away from them. 14 Why do we sit

^ Or, made of it falsehood - See ch. vi. 14, 15.

3 Or, I have appointed them those that shall pass over them

scribes. This is the first occasion on which the scribes are referred
to as a professional class in OT. For further particulars as to their
functions and the part which they played in the development of Hebrew
religion see Lightley, Les Scribes ; Schiirer, The Jeivisk People &c. (ET.),
n. i. 306 — 379; Oesterley, The Books of the Apocrypha, pp. 113 ff.

9. The best commentary on this v. is Prov. i. 7 ' The fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom '; but to despise or reject His counsel
soon leads to misfortune.

10 — 17. This section gives a picture of the utter despair into which
the people have fallen ; they are resigned to their fate and are simply
waiting for the invader to come upon them without any hope of being
able to resist him.

10 — 12. These vv. are not found in lxx. and are closely parallel to
vi. 12—15.

13. no grapes. The vine and fig-tree are here, as in Joel i. 7
(cf. Matt. xxi. 19), emblems of that prosperity and ease to which they
contributed. There does not seem to be in this v., as in some passages
(e.g. Is. V. 7; Mic. vii. 1), any reference to the religious state of the
nation.

/ hane given. Taking RV. as it stands the sense of the v. is that
of Hos. ii. 12 'I will lay waste her vines and her fig-trees, whereof she
hath said, These are my hire that my lovers have given me.' The
source of God's gifts will be recognised only by their withdrawal. The

6—2

84 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [viii. 14-17

still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced
cities, and let us ^be silent there: for the Lord our God hath
^put us to silence, and given us water of ^gall to drink, because
we have sinned against the Lord. 15 We looked for peace, but
no good came ; and for a time of healing, and behold dismay !
16 The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan : at the sound
of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembleth ;
for they are come, and have devoured the land and all that is in
it; the city and those that dwell therein. 17 For, behold, I will
send serpents, * basilisks, among you, which will not be charmed ;
and they shall bite you, saith the Lord.

^ Or, perish ^ Or, caused us to perish

'■^ See Deut. xxix. 18. * Or, adders

MT. is however very obscure and Dr Streane thinks that ' it is perhaps
the corruption of an interpolation.'

14 f. The doomed people are suddenly introduced, and the prophet
represents them as addressing one another in terms which shew that
they are prepared to meet the punishment which they now recognise
as being brought upon them by their own sins. The expectation of
peace which had been fostered amongst them by the false prophets is
seen to be vain, no peace was possible to a guilty people.

14. assemble yourselves &c. Cf. iv, 5.

silent .. .silence. The mg. perish... caused us to perish is to be pre-
ferred. The horrors and sufferings of a besieged city would be a subject
of common knowledge.

gall. The same threat is used in ix, 15, where see note, and in
xxiii. 15; the latter passage represents gall as the portion of the
prophets themselves.

15. =xiv. 19 6.

16. Dan. Dan in the far North has already been reached by the
foe and so certain is their approach that the land is already as good as
destroyed: cf. iv. 15. Irenaeus, v. xxx. 2 takes this v. to mean that
Dan is Anti-Christ, an old idea — founded possibly on the evil reputation
of the tribe — which finds expression in Rev. vii. 5 — 8 where Dan is
missing from the tribes in heaven. The connexion is first declared in
Test. Dan. v. 6 (where see Charles' note).

strong ones. i.e. war-horses as the parallelism shews; cf Job xxxix.
19, &c.

17. basilisks, lxx. renders ^avarowTas and connects with the
previous word, i.e. deadly serpents.

be charmed. Cf Ps. Iviii. 5 which represents the same idea though
the Hebrew word for ' charm ' is different.

The connexion between v. 16 and v. \1 seems to be rather slight,
and the whole section is a strange mixture of actual and figurative

VIII. i8-3o] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 85

18 Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! my heart
is faint within me. 19 Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter
of my people ^from a land that is very far off: Is not the Lord
in Zion? is not her King in her? Why have they provoked me
to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?
20 The harvest is past, the ^summer is ended, and we are not

^ Or, because of ^ Or, ingathering of summer fruits

description. But such a confusion is not sufficient to impugn the
integrity of the passage ; in the mind of the prophet images and figures
followed each other in so rapid a succession that he had no time to
question their literary suitability or even their connexion one with
another.

la— IX. 1 (= 18—23 Heb.). As in iv. 19 the description of the
coming invader is followed by a revelation of the prophet's own feelings.
He bewails the future disaster which he is unable to prevent, and his
agitation is shewn in the repeated questions which he piles one upon
another without waiting for an answer; cf. vv. 19 b, 22.

18. Oh... comfort myself. \At. Alas! my brightness. The meaning of
the word had been lost by the Jews and has been restored from a cognate
root in Arabic; see further Driver's note on Amos v. 9.

sorrow. Cornill points out that Jeremiah does not say my sorrow ;
it is not a personal, but a national, grief which is vexing the soul of the
prophet.

faint. The word occurs here and Is. i. 5 ; and Lam. i. 22.

19. In V. 14 Jeremiah introduced the lament of the people when
they discovered the invincible approach of the invader ; now he carries
his dramatic depiction of the future a stage further, and in imagination
he hears the desolate cry of the exiles proclaiming that Jehovah has
forsaken Zion and that the Divine sovereign no longer defends Jerusalem.
It may well be however that the cries are uttered by the prophet himself

land that is very far off. The Hebrew is better translated from a
wide spreading land; i.e. from the length and breadth of the land'.

King. The reference is doubtless to Jehovah and not to a human
king. Jeremiah was much more of a religionist than a royalist. Cf
Mic. iv. 9 : ' Is there no king in thee ? '

20. The prophet is here, it may be, quoting a popular proverb the
meaning of which is easy to understand. When the harvest, which
extended from April to .June, was a failure there still remained hopes
from the ingathering of summer fruits which came later; but once this
was past there was no further possibility of recovery. Duhm thinks that
the reference is historical rather than proverbial, and that the Scythians

^ The phrase (D''pn"UD }'"IN) is the same as that used in Is. xxxiii. 17 and
contains no necesBary idea of exile. The RV. represents pniO f^lX (so read by lxx.)
which is the reading in iv. 16, vi. 20.

86 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [viii. 20-ix. i

saved. 21 For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt :
I am ^ black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. 22 Is there
no balm in Gilead? is there no physician there? why then is not
the 2 health of the daughter of my people ^recovered?

IX. 1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain

^ Or, mourning 2 Or, healing 3 Or, perfected Heb. gone up.

invaded the land in the spring and remained in possession of it until
after the ingathering.

saved. No ethical content can be given to the word in this context ;
the reference is to material welfare.

21. The prophet, by reason of the sin of his people, feels compelled
to pass his days in one long mourning; cf. xv. 17.

_ black. The word is often used of the sky or the heavenly bodies
being darkened (as in iv. 28); here the reference is to the sad and
gloomy appearance of those in sorrow, hence mg. mourning.

22. balm. This rendering of the Hebrew word ''"!)? is found in
Coverdale's Bible. Cf Shakespeare's use in Richard II, Act iii. Sc. 2,

'Not all the water in the rough, rude sea
Can wash the balm from an anointed king.'

The actual product referred to by the original is not known with
any certainty. Mr McLean following the Arabic usage suggests mastic,
the resin from the tree Pistacia Lentiscus {Enc. Bib. 465) ; the more
usual suggestion is that ''1^ is balsam, but this product was apparently
not found in Gilead. The connexion of balm with healing occurs here,
in V. 8 and in xlvi. 11. It was evidently very highly valued, being
amongst the presents sent by Jacob to Joseph (Gen. xliii. 11). For
other references and comments see Nowack, Arch. i. xiv. 2; Conder,
Hethand Moab, p. 88; also Pliny, Hist. Nat. xii. 25, xxiv. 22: and for
the connexion between anointing and healing Dr Knowling's note on
Jas.^ V. 14.

Gilead. The mountainous district beyond Jordan, and amongst the
first of the Israelite territories to fall to the Assyrians (2 K. xv. 29).
See note on xxii. 6.

physician. The high opinion of ^jhysicians expressed in Ecclus.
xxxyiii. 1 fif. was not accepted by all the later Jews; cf 2 Chr. xvi. 12;
Tobit ii. 10 (B and ^^), and the Rabbinic opinion that the best of them
was worthy of Gehenna, Kidushim, iv. 14.

health. The Hebrew word suggests the fresh flesh gradually length-
ening (i.e. forming) over a wound.

Gilead the home of skilled physicians and healing medicines is not
able to provide for the hurt of her own children.

_ IX. 1. (Heb. viii. 23.) This v. is the culmination of the prophet's
grief and should certainly be attached as in the Hebrew to what
goes before. Jeremiah's sorrow over Israel reads like an anticipation of
Rom. ix. 2, X. 1. This v. was a favourite one with the Apocalyptic

TX. 1, 2] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 87

of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the
daughter of my people !

writers and it is even put into the mouth of Baruch (2 Bar. xxxv, 2)
and of Enoch (En. xcv. 1).

fountain of tears. Cf. the representations on Egyptian monuments
of women weeping with long lines drawn from their eyes to suggest the
tears bursting forth from them.

weep day and night. Cf. xl. 6; Is. xxii. 4; Mic. i. 8 f

Chapter IX. 2—26.

The Treachery of the People and its Sequel

This section apparently continues the previous one, and, like it, comes from
a period when the prophet was undergoing or had undergone much opposition"
and persecution. The closing vv. of the section have evidently become detached
from their context and consist of two unconnected fragments, vv. 23 f. and 25 f.
The continuation of i\ 22 is to be found in x. 17 as the section x. 1 — 16 is of
late date (see Introd. to that section).

{a) The projyhet lo7igs to escape to a place of quiet. 2 — 9. ^

(b) A lamentation over the destruction of Judah. 10 — 16. '

(c) A call for the professional mourners. 17 — 22.
{d) The vanity of wisdom and privilege. 23 — 26.

2 ^Oh that 1 had in the wilderness a lodging place of way-

^ Or, Oh that I were in the luilderness, in etc.

2 — 9. The treachery and deceit of the men of Judah cause the
prophet to give up all hope of the return of the people to God.

There is perhaps nothing so heart-breaking as the despair of
a sincerely religious man ; the despair of one who feels that in spite
of all the resources of nature and of grace nothing further can be done
for those amongst whom he dwells, and that like Lot he himself must
flee from out of the midst of the doomed city. History furnishes
numerous examples of those who followed such a course of action and
amongst them it will perhaps be sufficient to mention the countless
numbers who found in the retirement of the convent a refuge from the
corruption of Roman society; and nearer our own time, those who
braved the dangers of the wintry sea and the unknown terrors of
a strange continent, in order that they might be alone and enjo}^ peace
and freedom of conscience. The motive which made Jeremiah long
for a lodge in the wilderness was the same as that which animated the
minds both of the founders of Western monasticism and of the Pilgrim
Fathers.

88 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [ix. 2

faring men ; that I might leave my people, and go from them !
for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

The attractions of solitude have been well expressed by Hogg in
his poem On the Skylark:

'Bird of the wilderness

BIythesorae and cumberless
Sweet be thy matins o'er moorland and lea !

Emblem of happiness,

Blest is thy dwelling-place,
O to abide in the desert with thee.'

The treachery from which the prophet wished to flee was partly the
product partly the cause of the devious course which the leaders of the
.people were following. It is quite true to say that the foreign politics
iof a nation are influenced by the national character, but these in their
turn react upon it. The rulers had lost their faith in God as the
guardian and director of the State and had come to rely on their own
plots and political stratagems for national salvation. The necessities
of the situation made it impossible to conduct such a policy without
the employment of methods of treachery and deceit, and these methods
and ideals descended to the common people and found expression in
their dealings one with another. International politics must have
been followed with close attention by all classes of the community and
indeed the relations of Judah with Egypt on the one hand and Babylon
on the other doubtless formed the staple of conversation with every
travelling merchant in the bazaar.

2. in the wilderness. Cf Job xxxviii. 26 'the wilderness where
there is no man'; Ps. Iv. 6f, where the metaphor of the dove is
abandoned for that of the traveller, probably, as Dr Briggs thinks, under
the influence of the present passage.

lodging place. A place of temporary shelter where travellers would
pass a night or so before going on their way, a khan or caravanserais
The prophet's words however suggest that he wished to leave his
people and not to return to them : but one must not press the logic of
words which come from lips of suff"ering.

that I might leave &c. Jeremiah knew well the feeling which was
expressed by the Dominican monk Eckhardt when he said that 'a crowd
is often more lonely than a wilderness.'

assembly. The Hebrew word is one which is used of religious
assemblies, and its use in this context is an instance of the prophet's
irony, an irony which comes from the bitter experience of his own
heart. The later Jews used the word as a term for the Feast of
Weeks; cf Joseph. A7it. iii. x. 6, &c. and see the note in Driver's
Deut. p. 195.

treacherous men. Cf Mic. vii. 2 and see above.

* Cf. Spenser, The Faery Queen, Bk ii. xii. 32 :

♦ This is the port of rest from troublous toil,
The world's sweet inn from pain and wearisome turmoil.'

IX. 3-6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 89

3 And they bend their tongue as it were their bow for false-
hood ; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for
Hruth : for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not
me, saith the Lord. 4 Take ye heed every one of his neigh-
bour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will
utterly supplant, and every neighbour will go about with slanders.
5 And they will ^ deceive every one his neighbour, and will not
speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
they weary themselves to commit iniquity. 6 Thine habitation
is in the midst of deceit ; through deceit they refuse to know
me, saith the Lord.

1 Or, faithfulness ^ Or, inock

3. In this V. falsehood, whether in word or conduct, is denounced
because of the practical evil in which it results (cf. Mic. vi. 12; Ps.
hi. 4), not on any ground of the value of truth as such. According to
Dr Briggs it was not until Persian influence began to be felt that the
Jews regarded lying as being ethically wrong; see his note on Ps. lii. 4
in ICC.

bend. Tread with the foot: cf Ps. Ixiv. 3.

truth. Better faithfulness SiS in m&Tgin. See note on v. L

4. supplant. The Hebrew suggests a reference to Gen. xxvii. 36 ;
Every brother will prove a very Jacob. It was perhaps to counteract
the impression produced by this aspect of the patriarch's character that
he is later referred to as Jeshurun, i.e. the upright one (Dt. xxxiii. 4 f ,
cf Hos. xii. 4).

The prophet's own experience was to teach him the full meaning
of the treachery of friends and even kinsfolk (xi. 18 flf. : cf Mic. vii. 5f ).
Peake suggests that this whole section (ix. 2 — 22) does not belong to
the earliest time of Jeremiah's ministry as it seems to pre-suppose
'a great deal of unhappy experienced'

5. deceive. Better as mg. mock; so Gen. xxxi. 7.

taught their tongue. God has given to each of us our various
members to be used in His service (cf Eph. iv. 25), any other use of
them is misuse.

6. Thine habitation, lxx. by dividing up the letters of the
Hebrew into different words includes part of this word in v. 5 and
accordingly gives a different translation of the vv. viz. they committed
iniquity and ceased not to turn aside, {v. 6) Oppression cm, oppression
and deceit on deceit &c.

they refuse to know me. God is the God of Truth and can only be
known and comprehended by those who are truth loving and truth

^ ^?n^ is the Qal impft. fuller form for the more usual "^7^ as so often in
Job (xiv.'20, &c.).

90 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [ix. 7-10

7 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will melt
them, and try them; for how else should I do, because of the
daughter of my people? 8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it
speaketh deceit : one speaketh peaceably to his neighbour with
his mouth, but in his heart he layeth wait for him. 9 Shall I not
visit them for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul
be avenged on such a nation as this?

10 For the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing,
and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because
they are burned up, so that none passeth through ; neither can

seeking. They who love deceit and darkness by their very preference
thrust the knowledge of God away from them.

7. melt (Driver, smelt). Assaying includes besides the idea of
purifying, that of fusing the scattered metal contained in the ore, and
the rejection of the useless fragments. What was useful was purified
and amalgamated, what was useless was thrown away (cf Is. i. 25).
Jeremiah, like Michaelangelo in his poems, is very fond of this
metaphor of the refining fire of the goldsmith : see further on vi. 29.

8. arrow. Cf v. 4 where tlie tongue is compared to a bent bow
which shoots out the arrow of falsehood, here the tongue itself is the
arrow as being the source of the mischief which is done. The metaphor
is very common in Pss. (xii. 2, xxviii. 3, Iv. 21, &c.).

peaceably (Heb. Qi^^'). Dr Briggs in a note on Ps. xxviii. 3 points
out that this word is used in several different ways each of which
requires a different translation in English: (1) soundness, health;

2^ welfare, prosperity; (3) quiet, peacefulness, tranquillity, security;

4) peace, alliance, friendship between man and man ; (5) peace with

od; (6) peace from war.

9. The refrain is repeated from v. 9, 29 ; cf Is. i. 24.

10 — 16. This section has striking similarities to iv. 23 — 26 both
in matter and diction : in the present passage Judah and Jerusalem
are definitely named, and the reason is given for the utter ruin which
is to overtake them.

10. mountains. Jeremiah mourns for the mountains because of
their destruction; Ezekiel denounces them because of the profane rites
of which they were the scene (vi. 2 f ).

lamejitation. See note on vii. 29.

burned up. Not necessarily to be taken literally, means to be
desolate, laid waste; cf ii. 15, where it is used of the cities'orisrael
and V. 12 where the land is said to be 'burned up like a wilderness.'
However it is to be remembered that the dry grass which clothed the
pastures of the wilderness was very inflammable and that a fire once
started would often cover whole tracts of country. The Arabs are said
to put to death even the innocent originator of such a fire (cf Burck-
hardt, Travels in Syria, pp. 331 f.).

IX. IO-I5] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 91

men hear the voice of the cattle ; both the fowl of the heavens
and the beast are fled, they are gone. 11 And I will make
Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling place of jackals ; and I will make
the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant. 12 Who is
the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom
the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, that he may declare it?
wherefore is the land perished and burned up like a wilderness,
so that none passeth through?

13 And the Lord saith. Because they have forsaken my law
which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither
walked therein ; 14 but have walked after the stubbornness of
their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught
them: 15 therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of

11. jackals. There are constant references to jackals in OT.
especially in connexion with deserted sites; e.g. Is. xiii. 22, xxv. 2,
xxxiv. 13, &c. Kinglake makes some interesting observations on their
habits : ' These brutes,' he says, ' swarm in every part of Syria ; and
there were many of them even in the midst of those void sands which
would seem to give such poor promise of food. I can hardly tell what
prey they could be hoping for, unless it were that they might find now
and then the carcass of some camel that had died on the journey.
They do not marshal themselves into great packs like the wild dogs of
Eastern cities, but follow their prey in families like the place-hunters
of Europe.' Eothen, p. 150. See also the articles in Enc. Bib. and
HDB.

12 — 16. This passage is rejected as a whole by Puhm and Giese-
brecht and as to parts by Cornill and Kothstein ; it is a prose section
embedded in a piece of verse. It may be that the passage is a gloss
intended to point the moral, or it may be that it is here introduced
into a wrong context on account of the similarity of wording between
V. 12 and v. 10. vv. 13 — 16 especially are objected to as an editorial
addition giving a conventional answer to the question oi v. 12 and
consisting of a string of quotations in the style and manner of Deutero-
nomy.

12. Who is the wise man. Is this a challenge to those who boasted
that their ' hps still possessed knowledge ' ? The land was evidently
suffering from drought and the recognised teachers were unable, or
unwilling, to give any satisfactory reason for it. It is a call to con-
sider the works of the Lord in which alone is wusdom to be found;
Ps. cvii. 43 ; Hos. xiv. 9.

14. their fathers. Cornill points out that by this phrase Jeremiah
usually means the generation of the exile, here the reference must be
to those who settled in the Promised Land.

92 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [ix. 15-^0

Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood,
and give them water of ^gall to drink. 16 I will scatter them
also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers
have known : and I will send the sword after them, till I have
consumed them.

17 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider ye, and call for
the mourning women, that they may come; and send for the
cunning women, that they may come: 18 and let them make
haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down
with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. 19 For a voice
of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled! we are
greatly confounded, because v/e have forsaken the land, because
^they have cast down our dwellings. 20 Yet hear the word of

^ See ch. viii. 14. ^ Qj.^ ^^j. dwellings have cast us out

15. feed... to drink. Cf. Ps. Ixxx. 5 'Thou hast fed them with the
bread of tears, And given them tears to drink.' The same punishment
is promised to the false prophets (xxiii. 15).

wormwood... xvater of gall. These two words appear constantly
together as a metaphor for some disagreeable experience ; indeed what
is said of wwmwood is true of both. ' The references to it in OT. are so
purely symbolical, that we learn nothing but that it was an edible
substance of extreme bitterness.' Enc. Bib. 5355.

17 — 22. The call for the mourning women, and the contents of
the dirges which they are bidden to chant.

17. the mourning women. Professional mourners are one of the
most ancient institutions in the East and survive to the present day.
They consisted generally speaking of women, though men also took
part in these lamentations (2 Ch. xxxv. 25 ; Eccles. xii. 5 ; cf. Am. v.
16), and their object was to arouse the relatives of the deceased and
those who attended the funeral to an outward manifestation of their
sorrow. Their methods consisted of singing songs which dealt with
the virtues of the dead person and playing upon flutes or pipes. (Cf.
Lane, Modern Egyptians, ii. p. 252 ; Thomson, The Land and the Book,
p. 287.)

18. This -y. exposes the artificial character of the grief which
needed all the efforts of cunning women to arouse it (cf Ecclus. xxxviii.
16 ft'.); possibly the prophet wished to suggest that the penitence of
the rneu of Judah was of a like nature, in so far as it could only
be aroused by a narration of the horrors which were coming upon
them.

20. The Lord Himself will teach the women the subject matter
for their songs of lamentation, and the desolation which they are to
foretell will be so great that it will require the services of them all to

IX. 30-^3] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 93

the Lord, 0 ye women, and let your ear receive the word of
his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and every one
her neighbour lamentation. 21 For death is come up into our
windows, it is entered into our palaces ; to cut off the children
from without, and the young men from the streets. 22 Speak,
Thus saith the Lord, The carcases of men shall fall as dung upon
the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and
none shall gather them.

23 Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his
wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not

describe it. In 2 S. i. 18 there is another example of the teaching of
a song of mourning, in this case by an earthly monarch.

21. ivindows. A mark of the suddenness with which death will
approach, like a thief, or like locusts which ' climb up into the houses
and enter in at the windows ' (Joel ii. 9).

palaces. The rich suffer as well as the poor ; cf. Ex. xi. 5, xii. 29.

children... young men. The fate of the innocent child at play in
the streets (cf. Zech. viii. 5), and that of the young man who fought
to defend his country will be one and the same ; both will be cut off.

streets. Better open spaces, squares.

22. Speak... Lord. To be omitted with Lxx. as they interrupt the
sequence.

dung. See on viii. 2.

handful. Better swathe, row of fallen grain ; elsewhere Am. ii. 13
(on a cart); Mic. iv. 12; Zech. xii. 6. The point of the comparison is
not that the carcases of men shall be few, which handful would imply,
but rather the contrary ; the dead will lie on the open field like rows
of fallen grain but with no hope of being gathered up and garnered.

23 f. A short utterance inserted here possibly because of some
verbal connexion with v. 12 (wise man). The object of the passage is
to exalt moral over intellectual or martial qualities. The knowledge
of God and actions suitable to one who has this great privilege are the
true basis of glorying. Both iw. are quoted in Clem, ad Cor. xii. 7,
and V. 24 is referred to in Rom. ii. 17; 1 Cor. i. 31; 2 Cor. x. 17; and
possibly in Phil. iii. 3.

23. wisdom... might... riches. The three great sources of worldly
pride and satisfaction then as now. The scholar, the athlete and the
man of wealth each tends to find a substitute for God in his particular
pursuit. No doubt the prophets had to put up with much opposition
from these various classes on account of their fearless condemnation of
existing abuses and ' vested interests.' It is interesting to compare
this exposure of the folly of those who trust in mere material things
with that in Eccles. ix . 1 1 where the condemnation is based on grounds
which are purely utilitarian, the happenings of ' time and chance.'

94 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [ix. 23-26

the rich man glory in his riches : 24 but let him that glorieth
glory in this, that he understandeth, and knoweth me, that I am
the Lord which exercise lovingkin^ness, judgement, and right-
eousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the
Lord. 25 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will
punish all them which are circumcised in thei7- uncircumcision ;
26 Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon,
and Moab, and all that have the corners of their hair polled,
that dwell in the wilderness : for all the nations are uncircum-
cised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.

24. To know God is the truest happiness on earth and is indeed
the beginning in time of that Life whose quality is Eternal (Jn. xvii. 4).
This stress on the value of knowing God is reminiscent of Hosea
(e.g. V, 4, vi. 4, viii. 2); just as the insistence on the importance of
doing the things in which God delights is characteristic of Micah
(e.g. vi. 8, vii. 18).

25 f These vv. are regarded by almost all critics as a detached
fragment, but it is possible to trace out a connexion with the previous
fragment; there Jeremiah condemned those who trusted in human
attainments, here he condemns those who trust in religious privileges.
The passage is interesting as an anticipation of the teaching of St Paul
and of the distinction which he made between the circumcision which
is merely that of the flesh and the deeper circumcision of the heart
(see also on iv. 4)\

26. Judah comes in a strange position between Egypt and Edom,
and its presence is hard to explain.

all ■■ .uncircumcised. The exact force of this statement is not quite
clear, does it mean that the rite was not practised by these nations?
if so it conflicts with v. 25; or does it mean that their circumcision
was merely an outward symbol with no deeper meaning? in which case
it would not differ from that of Israel. Keil doubts whether circum-
cision was customary amongst the other nations, but there is a large
amount of evidence for it (see Driver's note on Gen. xvii. 23 ff".); the
fact that the Philistines are so constantly referred to as 'the uncir-
cumcised ' seems alone sufficient to prove it. On the contrary it might
be inferred from the story in Gen. xxxiv that the Canaanites did not
observe the rite. Circumcision was certainly known amongst the
Egyptians (cf Josh. v. 9), and indeed Herodotus claims that they,
with the Colchians and Ethiopians, were the originators of it ; and that
from them it spread into Phoenicia (11. 36, 37, 104). In later times

1 Philo in his treatise de Circum. ii. p. 211 m discusses the moral significance
of the rite.

IX. 26] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 95

the Edomites were not in the habit of circumcising (Joseph. Ant. xii.
ix. 1, XV. vii. 9), but this may well have been through their be-
coming ashamed of the rite owing to the spread of Greek influence
amongst them (cf. 1 Mace. i. 15; Herod, ii. 104), or through fear of
persecution (cf. Assumpt. Moses viii. 1: 'the king... shall crucify those
who confess to their circumcision '). St Jerome avoids the difficulty
mentioned above by taking the phrase to refer to nations not previously
enumerated.

corners. ..polled. See also xxv. 23, xlix. 32. The reference is to
the custom of certain Arab tribes who cut their hair in ' a circular
form ' in honour of ' Bacchus ' (Herod, iii. 8). The habit is forbidden
in Lev. xix. 27, evidently on the ground of its religious significance;
the priests were even forbidden to shave off" the corners of their beards
(Lev. xxi. 5).

Chapter X. 1 — 16.
The Vanity of Idols.

This passage is evidently inserted out of its proper context, and indeed
it shews signs of belonging to a period later than that of Jeremiah. In the
first place the people here addressed are sincere followers of Jehovah who
are apparently in danger of being led away by heathen forms of worship,
especially idolatry; in Jeremiah's time such habits of worship were already only
too common and indeed the prophet's condemnation had gone forth (cf. vii. I7ff,
30 ff., &c.). 'Jeremiah's contemporaries looked for help from mireal gods, and
are told by the prophet that they cannot save them (ii. 28, xi. 12) ; the Israelites
here addressed are in a dififerent situation altogether and are told not to dread
unreal gods for they cannot harm them.' Driver, LOT.^^. 254. Further this
passage ridicules the idols and casts scorn on those who worship them, whereas
Jeremiah did not make use of ridicule, but only of fiery indignation. Secondly
the people referred to in this ch. appear to be living in closetouch with heathen
nations and even to be under their power. If by nations the Chaldean invaders
are to be understood the attitude taken up towards them is hardly consistent
with that usually adopted by Jeremiah (see especially vv. 8 and 10). In any
case this section (as was pointed out above) interrupts the sequence of thought
between ix. 22 and x. 17, and if Lxx. is a trustworthy authority the text itself
is in some confusion, for that version omits vc. 6—8 and 10, and places v. 9 in
the middle of v. 5.

The impression given by the passage as a whole is that it fits jn much better
with ^he situation of the Hebrews when in exile in Babylon. During that period
many of them must have been strongly attracted to the worship of idols by the
elaborate ritual which was there practised, as well as by the fact that the gods
of Babylon were the gods of their conquerors. The line of attack pursued by
the writer is to all intents and purposes identical with that of 2 Isaiah, and

96 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [x. 1-4

Movers goes so far as to attribute the m. to his authorship (of. Is. xl. 19—22,
xli. 7, 29, xliv. 9 — 20, Ixiv. 5 — 7). The section may be conveniently divided up
into two portions :

(a) A warning against putting trust in the works oj mer^s hands. 1 — 5.
(6) A declaration of God^t omnipotence and omniscience. 6 — 16.

X. 1 Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you,
0 house of Israel : 2 thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of
the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven ; for the
nations are dismayed at them. 3 For the ^ customs of the peoples
are vanity : for ^one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of
the hands of the workman with the axe. 4 They deck it with silver
and with gold ; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that

^ Heb. statutes. ^ Or, it is but a tree which one cutteth

X. 1 — 5. A warning against the foolishness of behaving like the
heathen, and putting trust in mere senseless idols which have them-
selves to be moved from place to place.

2. Learn not the loay. The Heb. of this phrase is very awkward
and a slight change in the pointing gives the translation Be not im-
pelled (into the way of the heathen) \

signs of heaven. The religion of the people amongst whom the
Israelites were dwelling evidently laid great stress on the movements
of the heavenly bodies ; this was a characteristic of the Babylonian
religion especially in its later developments (cf. L. W. King, Baby-
lonian Religion., pp. 25 f.). Even in Christian countries comets and
similar phenomena have been looked upon as portents ; and so it is not
hard to imagine what effect they must have had upon a population of
which the vulgar, at any rate, identified the heavenly bodies with the
gods whom they worshipped (see on viii. 2). According to the Book
of Jubilees (xii. 16 f.) it is foolish even to gaze at the stars because
they are 'all in the hands of the Lord'; at the same time there is
another aspect of the matter, and Joel tells us that ' wonders in the
heavens ' are amongst the signs which are to accompany the approach
of ' the great and terrible day of the Lord ' (ii. 30 f. ; cf. Am. viii. 9 ;
Lk. xxi. 25).

3. Idols were probably first set apart to be the dwelling of the
deity; then they were carved to be a rough representation of him;
and so in course of time they acquired an intrinsic sanctity of their
own: cf. W. Robertson Smith, Rel. Sem.- pp. 211 f.

tree. Cf. Wisd. xiii. 11; and Hor. Sat. i. viii. 1,

4. The wooden idol is decorated in various ways and is then

1 MT. reading is •11D7n"/X...'^^''I"?i<. Perles suggests pointing -nSpri and
compares HoVd = ox-goad and the Heb. of xxxi. 18 (see JQR. N.S. ii. p. 104).

X. 4-9] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 97

it move not. 5 They are like a ^palm tree, of turned work, and
speak not : they must needs be borne, because they cannot go.
Be not afraid of them ; for they cannot do evil, neither is it in
them to do good. 6 There is none like unto thee, O Lord ; thou
art great, and thy name is great in might. 7 Who would not
fear thee, 0 King of the nations? for ^to thee doth it appertain :
forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all
their royal estate, there is none like unto thee. 8 But they are
^together brutish and foolish : Hhe instruction of idols, it is but
a stock. 9 There is silver beaten into plates which is brought
from Tarshish, and gold from ^Uphaz, the work of the artificer

1 Or, pillar in a garden of cucumbers See Baruch vi. 70.

^ Or, it beseemeth thee ^ Or, through one thing

* Or, it is a doctrine of vanities

5 According to some ancient versions, Ophir.

secured to the place prepared for it, in order, either that it shall not
fall down, which would be an ominous event (cf. 1 S. v. 3), or that it
may not be stolen (cf. Bar. vi. 18).

move. Lit. totter. Cf. Wisd. xiii. 16 'he taketh thought for it
that it may not fall down, knowing that it is unable to help itself.'

5. palm tree, of turned work. The rendering of RVm. is to be
preferred — pillar in a garden of cucumbers, in other words a scarecrow
(Bar. vi. 70).

evil... good. That is they can do nothing at all. Cf. Gen. ii. 17.
' The knowledge of good and evil ' means not a supreme judgement in
ethical matters, but omniscience ; because everything comes within the
two categories of good and evil. The same jeer is made against
Jehovah by the dwellers of Jerusalem who are 'settled on their lees'
(Zeph. i. 12).

6 — 16. The great might and wisdom of God, especially as manifested
in creation, places Him far above the idols of the heathen.

6 — 8 are omitted by lxx., and the omission is supported by Streane
(see The Double Text &c. p. 123).

7. King of the nations. The idea that Jehovah is King of the
nations is usually regarded as late (cf Ps. xliii., xlvi., xlviii. &c.).

8. Ex nihilo nihil fit ; a stream cannot flow above its source, and
from a material idol no moral or spiritual counsel is to be expected.

9. Tarshish was the extreme western limit of the ancient world.
It is probably to be identified with the Phoenician colony Tartessus on
the Guadalquivir (i.e. Wady-el-Kebir, the great river). Tarshish gave
its name to a special type of ocean-going vessel (1 K. xxii. 48, &c.) just
as according to the Egyptian monuments ships engaged in traffic with
Keftiu (Crete) were called ' Keftiu ' ships. Ezekiel tells us that it was
noted for its silver (xxvii. 12, so also Diod. Sic. v. xxxv. 1).

Uphaz. Here and Dan. x. 5. It is better to read Ophir, which was

98 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [x. 9-"

and of the hands of the goldsmith ; bhie and purple for their
clothing; they are all the work of cunning men. 10 But the
Lord is Hhe true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting
king : at his wrath the earth trembleth, and the nations are not
able to abide his indignation.

11 ^Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not
made the heavens and the earth, ^ these shall perish from the
earth, and from under the heavens.

1 Or, God in truth 2 This verse is in Aramaic.

* Or, they shall... under these heavens

proverbial for its gold (cf. Ps. xlv. 10, &c.). On Ophir and the various
suggestions which have beeu made as to its situation see Driver on
Gen. X. 29 (with the important matter in the Addenda); it was
probably in Arabia and perhaps the port from which the gold was
embarked rather than the region which produced it.

blue and purple. These two Avords often occur in conjunction.
The former was the colour of the covering for the temple vessels (Nu. iv.
6, &c.), also of the hangings of the palace at Shushan (Est. i. 6). Both
words are applied to the hangings of the tabernacle (Ex. xxv. 4, &c.);
in one passage the latter word is used of a woman's hair (Cant. vii.
5), a very vivid touch which is in keeping with the other striking
similes of the writer. The dye was obtained from a certain sea-shell
{murex trunculus), hence the name applied to it in 1 Mace. iv. 23 (5<V)

7rop(f>vpav OaXacratav.

cunning men. The manufacture of idols was a ' skilled trade.'
The idol consisted of a core of wood or some inferior metal which was
plated over with gold or silver: cf Is. xl. 19 and see G. A. Cooke,
North Sem. Inscript. p. 75.

10. Cf. 1 Thes. i. 9 'Turned from idols to serve the living and
true God ' ; Jn. v. 26.

God is contrasted with the idols in three respects. They are false,
He is true or as the margin says God in truth^\ they are inanimate,
He is living; they are liable to destruction and the decay of all
material things. He is eternal.

Lxx. omits the v.

11. _ This V. is in Aramaic and interrupts the sequence of vo. 10 and
12. Driver thinks that it was probably originally a marginal note sug-
gested by the argument of the text, and intended as a reply which might
be used by Jews living in heathen countries, when invited to take part
in idol-worship. Giesebrecht says the Aramaic is of the Western dialect
not of the Eastern which was spoken in Babylon ; it is to be noticed that
two distinct words are used for earth in the v. and that both have been

1 Cf . the Jewish Prayer for the New Year : ' Purify our hearts to serve thee
in truth. Thou, 0 God, art Truth, and thy word is Truth and standeth for ever.'

X. I2-.6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 99

12 He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established
the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he
stretched out the heavens : 13 ^ when he uttereth his voice, there
is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours
to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings
for the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.
14 Every man ^is become brutish and zs without knowledge; every
goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image : for his molten
image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 15 They
are vanity, a work of ^delusion: in the time of their visitation
they shall perish. 16 The portion of Jacob is not like these;

' Or, at the sound of his giving an abundance of waters... when he causeth &c.
or, he causeth <( c.

2 Or, is too brutish to know ^ Or, mockery

found in the Assuan papyri. (For further information as to the Aramaic
dialects see E. Kautzscli, Gram, des Biblisch-Aram. §§ 6 f , Enc. Bib.
280 ff., and on this passage in particular Driver, LOT? p. 255.)

12 — 16 (=li. 15 — 19). The power of God is revealed in the wonders
of the natural world. The thought contained in these vv. is one which
occurs frequently in OT. and Driver has collected together a number of
passages of Scripture ' containing thoughts or lessons suggested by the
religious contemplation of nature ' ; see his note on Gen. ii 1 — 4 a.

13. uttereth his voice. Thunder is a favourite accompaniment of
a theophany, often ending in lightning and rain. 'The Lord also
thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice ; hail-
stones and coals of fire'; Ps. xviii. 13; Ecclus. xliii. 14.

the vapours to ascend. There is here no reference to the doctrine of
evaporation ; it is the actual, visible motions of the clouds moving up
from the distant horizon which the prophet has in mind ; cf 1 K. xviii.
44; Ps. cxxxv. 7; and see W. Robertson Smith, Rel. Sem.- p. 106.

lightnings for the rain. Pusey suggests into rain, the lightning dis-
appearing in the rain which follows it.

treasuries. Cf Dt. xxviii. 12 (of the rain); Job xxviii. 22 (of the
snow and hail); and also the parallel in the well known passage in
Virgil, Aen. i. 52 — 63

' Hie vasto rex Jilolus antro
Luctantes ventos tempestatesque sonoras
Impei-io pi'emit, ac viuclis et carcere fi'enat,' &c.

14. A description of the powerlessness of the idols and the despair
of their makers in the presence of the powers of nature.

graven image. Lit. carved : the generic name for an idol without
reference to the substance or process of manufacture,

16. portion of Jacob. Here only and in the parallel passage li. 19;
cf. Ps. xvi. 5, Ixxiii. 26; and in a more material sense Nu. xviii. 20.

7—2

100 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [x. 16-19

for he is the former of all things ; and Israel is the tribe of his
inheritance : the Lord of hosts is his name.

the tribe of his inheritance. Of. li. 19; Ps. Ixxiv. 2 where Dr Briggs
thinks it is inserted from the present passage.

Chapter X. 17—25.

The Nearness of the Exile.

This section resumes the discourse which was inteiTupted after ix. 22. Its
genuineness has been questioned by many critics ; the text as it stands is cer-
tainly corrupt in places (cf. lxx.), and there is great probability that more than
one marginal gloss has found its way into the body of the passage.

{a) The prophefs msion of Jerusalem hesieged. 17 — 22.
(ft) An appeal to God for mercy. 23—25.

17 Gather up ^thy wares out of the land, ^0 thou that abidest
in the siege. 18 For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will sling
out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them,
that they may ^feel it. 19 Woe is me for my hurt ! my wound is

^ Or, thy bundle frovi the ground
- Or, O inhabitant (Heb. inhabitress) of the fortress ^ Heb.^nd.

17 — 22. The prophet tells of the vision which he has seen of Jeru-
salem besieged and of the consternation which the event itself will
occasion.

17. Gather up thy wares: i.e. prepare for flight; cf. mg. Gather
up thy bundle from the ground. The meaning of the word translated
wares is somewhat doubtful, but it appears to be connected with the
root underlying ' Canaanite.' This latter word is often used as a synonym
for trader (cf. Prov. xxxi. 24; Job xli. 5). The mg. bundle derives
the word from a root similar to one found in Arabic meaning ' to bind
up,' 'contract.' It is to be noted that at a later time the exiles in
Babylon were warned of the second fall of Jerusalem by Ezekiel gather-
ing together his possessions as if to fly from a besieged city (Ez. xii.

thou. Fem. in Heb. and therefore to be applied to the community.

18. sling out. This is the only place where the expression means
to drive a people into exile, though Abigail uses the metaphor in a some-
what similar sense when she speaks of Jehovah slinging out the souls
of David's enemies (1 S. xxv. 29; and cf. Is. xxii. 18 of the punishment
of Shebna).

19 f. These vv. bear a strong resemblance to iv. 19 — 21, and in
them, as in the earlier passage, the prophet is speaking in the name of
the community whose griefs he shares.

X. .9-33] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 101

grievous : but I said, Truly this is my ^grief, and I must bear it.
20 My tent is spoiled, and all my cords are broken : my children
are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch
forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. 21 For the
shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of the
Lord: therefore they have not ^prospered, and all their flocks
are scattered. 22 The voice of a rumour, behold it cometh, and
a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities
of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals. 23 0 Lord,
I knovr that the way of man is not in himself : it is not in man

1 Or, sickness 2 Qr, dealt loisely

20. tent. The use of the figure of the tent to describe the whole
nation is frequent, especially in the later writers. In Is. liv. 2 the en-
larging of the tent and the lengthening of the cords is a sign of the
increased prosperity and populousness of the land; and the Divine
promise that Zion shall be ' a quiet habitation ' is couched in terms of
the same figure, she is to be 'a tent which shall not be removed'
(Is. xxxiii. 20).

21. In this V. the image used to portray the desolation of the city
is changed from that of an Arab whose tent has been broken down and
his children destroyed, to that of a flock which has been scattered through
the foolishness of its shepherds. This last figure seems to contain a
reference to the folly of the rulers of Judah; cf. ii. 8, iii. 15, xxiii. 1,
&c.

22. jackals. See on ix. H.

23 — 25. Jeremiah pleads the ignorance and feebleness of his
countrymen as an excuse for their sin, and prays that Jehovah will
have mercy upon His worshippers and avenge them upon their heathen
oppressors. These vv. are rejected by Duhm and Erbt, as well as by
Giesebrecht. There does not, however, seem to be any insuperable
difficulty in regarding vv. 23 — 24 as genuine; and there is much to
recommend Cornill's suggestion that Jeremiah is here making ' one
last appeal to the unfathomable mercy of Jehovah ' not for a reversal
of the judgement, for that is forbidden him (vii. 16, xi. 14, xiv. 11),
but for clemency in carrying it out. v. 25 is almost identical with
Ps. Ixxix. 6 f. and comes unnaturally from the lips of one who habitually
regarded the nations as God's own appointed instruments for the very
purpose of punishing Jacob ; in any case it reflects the time after the
second fall of Jerusalem and therefore is out of place here. Possibly
Jeremiah looking back on the fallen city felt that the nations had
exceeded their commission and that they had rendered to Jerusalem
'double' for her sins.

23. An acknowledgement of man's dependence on the Divine will
which taken alone would amount to fatalism ; cf Rom. ix. 18. A similar

102 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [x. 23-XL i

that walketh to direct his steps. 24 0 Lord, correct me, but
with judgement; not in thine anger, lest thou ^bring me to no-
thing. 25 -Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee
not, and upon the families that call not on thy name : for they
have devoured Jacob, yea, they have devoured him and consumed
him, and have laid waste his ^habitation.

1 Heb. diminish me. ^ See Ps. Ixxix. 6, 7. '■^ Or, pasture

sentiment is expressed in Ps. xxxvii. 23 ; Prov. xvi. 9 ; but with the
idea of a man's choice being overruled by God.

24. An admission of sin and an appeal for mercy. In the office for
Morning and Evening Prayer this v. is used, as here, for the confession
of common sin.

25. Tlie genuineness of this v. is very doubtful (though see Introd,
to the section); it suggests that a godly nation had been overcome and
desolated by the ungodly, not that the wickedness of Judah was being
punished.

Chapters XI. 1 — XII. 6.

Jeremiah's Proclamation of the Covenant and its Results.

Jeremiah shews his sympathy \vith the legal side of religion by proclaiming
the 'words of the covenant'; by which is meant some sort of code of Divine re-
quirements. It is difficult however to know what exactly the phrase implies,
the usual interpretation is that it represents the contents of the 'book of the
law' found in the temple in Jhe days of Josiah (2 K. xxii. 8); which 'book'
according to most critics formed the nucleus of Dt. In the account of Josiah's
reformation in 2 K. xxii. — xxiii. no mention is made of Jeremiah, and the
prophet seems to have had little sympathy mth the king's methods and actions
(see Introd. pp. xxii f ). The covenant into which Josiah entered was accepted
by 'all the people' (2 K. xxiii. 2) and at first sight there would seem to have
been no need for its subsequent 'proclamation'; the words however can hardly
be taken literally, and in any case even when the covenant had been accepted
the need for explanation and comment would still be present.

(a) The conditions of the covenant. 1 — 8.

(6) The failure of the prophets warnings. 9 — 14.

(c) The prayer of hypocrites will he in vain. 15 — 17.

{d) The plots of the men of Anathoth. 18 — 23.

{e) Why do the icicked prosper? xii. 1 — 6.

XI. 1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

XI. 1 — 8. Jeremiah is commanded to bring back to the minds of
the men of Judah the conditions upon which they hold their land, viz. :
that they keep the covenant which God made with their fathers at the

XL .-5] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 103

2 Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men
of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem ; 3 and say thou
unto them, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel : Cursed be
the man that heareth not the words of this covenant, 4 which
I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth
out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, Obey
my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you :
so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God : 5 that I may
establish the oath which I sware unto your fathers, to give them
a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then an-
swered I, and said. Amen, 0 Lord.

time of the exodus. It is rather a remarkable fact that the earlier
prophets do not seem to look back to the legislation at Sinai as the
beginning of the covenant relation between Israel and Jehovah, but to
the deliverance from Egypt (cf Am. ii. 10; Hos. ii. 15, xi. 1, xii. 9, 13).
The passage contains a double command, couched in very similar Ian- '
guage, to proclaim the covenant. Cheyne rejects the whole section as
' poor in diction and in metre and quite out of harmony with what Jere-
miah says elsewhere' {Decline and Fall of Kingdom of Judah, p. 32).

2. Hear ye ...speak. The plural is awkward as there is no clue
to the persons addressed; read the singular with lxx.

this covenant. The phrase has no antecedent. The reference may
be to the covenant made by Josiah ,and the people which was to them
but a renewal of the ancient covenant made during the exodus ; or it
may be a direct reference to the Deuteronomic covenant. The two
references are not necessarily exclusive, in fact most critics consider
that it was the Deuteronomic covenant which Josiah renewed, though
there is a difficulty in referring to it as made when God brought the
people out of Egypt, for such a reference suggests that Dt. was the
content of the revelation at Sinai ^

4. Taking the Pentateuch as we now have it this v. would better
refer to the covenant at Sinai than to the later one in Moab (see previous
note). The whole of vv. 3 — 5 is, however, full of Dt. phrases and in
fact forms a summary of the Dt, teaching. Tt .seems more than doubtful
whether this passage is not the addition of a Dt. scribe, though such a
theory has its difficulties in view of the apparent confusion of the legis-
lation of Sinai with that of Moab.

iron furnace. Cf Dt. iv. 20; Ez. xxii. 18 ff.

5. milk and honey. A common phrase in J and D, once in H

1 This difficulty is pointed out by Chapman, Int. to the Pent. p. 129, ' the
reference,' he says, 'seems to be to the beginning rather than to the end of the
journeyings. If the prophet knew the law as a part of the complete Book of
Deut., would it not have been represented as proclaimed in the land of Moab
(Deut. xxix. 1).'

104 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xi. 6-10

6 And the Lord said unto me, Proclaim all these words in
the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear
ye the words of this covenant, and do them. 7 For I earnestly
protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up
out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and
protesting, saying, Obey my voice. 8 Yet they obeyed not, nor
inclined their ear, but walked every one in the stubbornness of
their evil heart: therefore I brought upon them all the words
of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did
them not.

9 And the Lord said unto me, A conspiracy is found among
the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
10 They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers,

(Lev. XX. 24), outside the Pentateuch it occurs here, xxxii. 22, and
Ez. XX. 6, 15 only.

Amen. For the different uses of Amen in the Bible see an article
in JQR. Oct. 1896.

6. Cf. Rom. ii. 13.

7 f. These vv. are omitted by Lxx. ; they are closely parallel to vii.
23 f. and also to w. 4 f. of this same chapter.

pi'otested. God's protest is a solemn declaration of His requirernents
in spite of man's disobedience and neglect; cf. the note in Driver's
Deut. pp. 80f.

8. ths words of this covenant, i.e. the punishments threatened for
refusal to obey the law.

9 — 14. In the previous section Jeremiah is represented as pro-
claiming the covenant and warning the people of the consequences
of refusal to fulfil its requirements ; in this section the warnings have
proved vain and the people have already fallen away from their obedi-
ence. The reformation has been a failure and the state of Judah is as
bad as ever. This ' word from the Lord ' probably came to the prophet
in the early days of Jehoiakim's reign when the pathetic death of Josiah
had crushed out any sparks of a true and living faith in Jehovah which
the king had succeeded in kindling by his example. In the presence of
all the iniquities and idolatries of the nation the prophet's denunciation
once more rings out.

9. conspiracy. It is not necessary to find in this word any organised
intrigue (such as a plot by the pro-Egyptian party), but merely a vivid
description of the effect of the conduct of the men of Judah ; by follow-
ing false gods they had shewn themselves to be bound together in an
agreement, although it was an implied and not a deliberate one. The
same expression is used by Ezekiel of the prophets (xxii. 25 ; cf Hos.
vi. 9).

10. forefathers. Is this a reference to their immediate ancestors

XI. ic^-is] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 105

which refused to hear my words ; and they are gone after other
gods to serve them : the house of Israel and the house of Judah
have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
11 Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon
them, which they shall not be able to escape ; and they shall cry
unto me, but I will not hearken unto them. 12 Then shall the
cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem go and cry unto
the gods unto whom they offer incense : but they shall not save
them at all in the time of their Hrouble. 13 For according to
the number of thy cities are thy gods, 0 Judah ; and according
to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars
to the ^shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.
14 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry
nor prayer for them : for I will not hear them in the time that
they cry unto me ^for their Hrouble.

15 ^What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she

^ Heb. evil. 2 jjg^^ shame. See ch. iii. 24.

^ Many ancient authorities have, in the time of.

* The text is obscure. The Sept. renders thus: Why hath the beloved wrought
abomination in my house ? Shall vows and holy flesh take away from thee thy
wickednesses, or shall thou escape by these ?

of the pre-reformation period or to the generation of the exodus 1 Cf.
ii. 2 f

12. To the men of Judah the test of _the power of a god was a
practical one, his ability to help his worshippers. Josiah had received
no help from Jehovah against Egypt, but, so the prophet warns them,
neither will they receive any help from their newly adopted objects of
worship; cf. ii. 28, which is evidently in the writer's mind though he
drops the irony of the former passage and speaks in all earnest-
ness.

13. The decay of the national religion is followed by the springing
up of a huge crop of superstitions. Faith in the established worship
having been shaken men feel left to their own devices and each city and
every street makes its own choice of the deity under whose protection
it will place itself ' The soul that is not unified and harmonised by the
fear of the one God, is torn and distracted by a thousand contending
passions, and vainly seeks peace and deliverance by worshipping at a
thousand unholy shrines.' (Ball, ad loc.)

14. The first half of the v. should probably be omitted, having been
introduced from vii. 16 j the whole section then refers to the vain
attempts of the people to obtain the help of God whilst not running
the risk of giving up any of their superstitious practices.

15 — 17. The prayer of hypocrites will be in vain; and the fair

106 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xi. 15-18

hath wrought lewdness ivith many, and the holy flesh is passed
from thee? ^when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest. 16 The
Lord called thy name, A green olive tree, fair with goodly fruit:
with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it,
and the branches of it are broken. 17 For the Lord of hosts,
that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, because of
the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which
they have wrought for themselves in provoking me to anger by
offering incense unto Baal.

18 And the Lord gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it:

^ Or, when thine evil cometh

olive tree which gave a deceitful promise of goodly fruit will be blasted
(cf. Matt. xxi. 19).

15. It is impossible to get any meaning out of MT. as it stands
and most critics follow the lxx. which is represented in the margin.

my beloved. Here applied to the whole nation as in Ps. Ix. 5
(=cviii. 6); in Dt. xxxiii: 12 it is used of the tribe of Benjamin only;
and in 2 S, xii. 24 f. of an individual, Solomon or Jedidiah (cf. also
Ps. cxxvii. 2 'so he giveth his beloved sleep').

holy flesh. Cf Hag. ii. 12.

16. olive tree. This tree was a fit symbol for prosperity on account
of its great beauty and value (cf. Hos. xiv. 6 ; Ps. lii. 8, cxxviii. 3).
Israel is more frequently depicted as a vine though in the famous alle-
gory in Rom. xi. the olive is selected by St Paul.

tumult. The same Heb. word as that used for the noise of the
wings of the living creatures in Ez. i. 24. Perhaps the writer wished
to make use of the picture of a smouldering fire being fanned into flame
by a stormy wind.

17. Judah is to suffer for the sins of the house of Israel as well as
for its own: a thought which is found in Dan. ix. 7 and Ass. Moses
iii. 5.

18 — 23. The Lord reveals to Jeremiah a plot which has been formed
against him by his fellow-townsmen. The prophet's judgement upon
them.

This section has no obvious connexion with the two that go before
and they may have been grouped together because in v. 9 there is
mention of a conspiracy and here an account is given of an actual plot,
not, it is true against Jehovah, but against His prophet and spokesman.
At the same time it is evident that some introductory matter has been
omitted at the beginning of the section, as the names of the offenders
are only given at the end and then almost by chance. It has been sug-
gested that the reason for the deadly hatred exhibited by the men of
Anathoth against Jeremiah was the part which he took in carrying out
the reforms of Josiah including the centralisation of all worship at

XL 18-20] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 107

then thou shewedst rae their doings. 19 But I was like a gentle
lamb that is led to the slaughter ; and I knew not that they had
devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with
the ^ fruit thereof, and let us cut him otf from the land of the
living, that his name may be no more remembered. 20 But, 0

' Heb. bread.

Jerusalem. This reform would have the effect of ' disestablishing ' the
local sanctuaries, including that at Anathoth, and in the latter case the
bitterness would be the greater as the priests there were descendants
of Abiathar, who was displaced in Solomon's reign by Zadok (1 K. ii. 27)
from whom the Jerusalem priests claimed their succession. The sons
of Abiathar felt that the priesthood at the temple was theirs by right
and now they were to be deprived of even their own sanctuary and only
to be allowed to minister at all by becoming subordinates to their hated
and triumphant rivals, That a member of their own family and possibly
of the priestly guild itself should support such a movement must have
seemed to them an intolerable wrong. In any case the secrecy with
which the plots were made would only be necessary in the reign of
Josiah.

18. This V. seems to take for granted that the reader is in full
possession of the facts of the attempt upon Jeremiah's life. Cornill
suggests that this section should be transposed so as to follow xii. 6.

19. gentle. AV. an ox is a possible translation of MT. (cf Hesiod,
Op. 403), but RV. gives a better meaning to the comparison. The idea
is that of a lamb which has been brought up ' as one of the family '
(cf 2 S. xii. 3) without suspicion of the fate in store for it. The word
used here for lamb is almost always applied to lambs for sacrifices^; cf
Is. liii. 7 which is possibly founded on this passage.

the tree with the fruit. Heb. bread which is an unusual phrase
though it is defended by Keil on the grounds of there being a similar
Arabic usage. It seems better however to adopt the slight emendation
suggested by Hitzig and to read sap. The figure then represents a
strong young tree in the fulness of life, and the reference is to the
youth and vigour of the prophet. The v. is quoted by Tertullian, adv.
Marc. iii. 19 and also by St Athanasius in such a manner as to make it

a forecast of the crucifixion, SeSre koI c/x/SaAw/iev ^vXov cis tov aprov avTOV

(De Inc. XXXV. 3). In Ecclus. vi. 3 f a dried-up tree (i.e. a tree without
fruit) is an expression for a childless man : but it is practically certain
that Jeremiah was unmarried (xvi. 2).

land of the living. A phrase Cjommon in Ezekiel (xxvi. 20, &c.)
and in the Psalms (xxvii. 13, &c.).

1 In many systems of worship the victim is supposed to oifer itself spontaneously
(cf. Gen. xxii. 13), and if it struggles on the way to the altar it is considered
to be a bad omen (see Livy, xxi. 63, and cf. Robertson Smith's note in Rel. Sem.'^
p. 309).

108 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xi. .o-xii. .

Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and
the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them : for unto thee have
I revealed my cause. 21 Therefore thus saith the Lord concern-
ing the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Thou shalt
not prophesy in the name of the Lord, that thou die not by our
hand : 22 therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will
^punish them : the young men shall die by the sword ; their sons
and their daughters shall die by famine ; 23 and there shall be
no remnant unto them: for I will bring evil upon the men of
Anathoth, ^even the year of their visitation.

XII. 1 Righteous art thou, 0 Lord, when I plead with thee:

1 Heb. visit upon. 2 Qr, in the year

20. the reins and the heart. The reins (or kidneys) to the Hebrews
were the seat of the emotions and the heart the seat of the reasoning
faculty. God sees both, for to Him 'all hearts are open and all desires
known' and therefore He has all the material at His disposal for forming
a perfectly just judgement.

unto thee have I revealed. This statement seems out of place in view
of God's admitted omniscience and some critics by deriving the Hebrew
word from another root translate upon thee have I rolled my cause.

21. Thou shalt not prophesy. Of. the similar command in Am. ii. 12,
V. 10; Micah was also bidden to keep silence (ii. 6), as was Isaiah
(xxviii. 9 f.).

in the name of the Lord. Cf. note on xxvi. 16.

die not by our hand. The men of Anathoth evidently intended to
take the law into their own hands.

22 f In these vv. Jeremiah declares that the sin of the men of
A.nathoth cannot fail to bring its due punishment : there is nothing
vindictive in the prophet's utterance. (Cf. xiv. 15, xHv. 12.) No doubt
Anathoth from its close proximity to Jerusalem would suffer severely
during the siege.

23. no remnant. This expression is not to be taken literally, as
according to Ezra ii. 23 ; Neh. vii. 27 the number of the men of Anathoth
who returned from exile was 128. The Heb. word for remnant in this
V. (n'^yXi^) is used with a variety of meanings, as Dr Briggs has pointed
out, all of which can be illustrated from the book of Jeremiah : (a) pos-
terity as here and in 2 S. xiv. 7 ; (b) remainder of a thing, vi. 9, xxxix. 3 ;
Ps. Ixxvi. 10; (c) remnant of a people, xxxi. 7; Ez. ix. 8, &c.

XII. 1—6. This section contains one of the earliest extant pas-
sages in Hebrew literature, if not the earliest, in which there is a
discussion of the eternal problem "of the prosperity of the wicked'.

^ Cf. H. W. Robinson, ' the problem of individual suffering finds expression first
of all in the prophet who is most individual in his thought and experience,' Reliq.
Ideas of OT. p. 171.

XII. i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 109

Jeremiah is God's servant and yet he is in a perilous state, his life is
constantly threatened and made a misery to him ; his eiiemies on the
other hand are godless anST evil and yet they prosper and live in security
and_ease. It is to be noted that the prophet in spite of the urgency of
the problem and its intimate relation to his own sufferings does not for
a moment lose his confidence i^ God's justice. He 'sets down,' as Pusey
said of Habakkuk, 'at the very beginning his entire trust in God...
teaching us that the only safe way of inquiry into God's ways is by *
setting out with a living conviction that they are mercy and truth.'

The passage, in whole or in part, is accepted as genuine by nearly
all critics (Duhm would reject it as post-exilic, but the reasons which
he gives seem insufficient). Cornill looks upon vv. 1 — 2 at any rate as
being genuine beyond all dispute; he would place the passage before
xi. 18 — 23 and thinks that the utterance comes from a time imme-
diately after the tragedy of Megiddo when the fate of Josiah had
attracted universal attention to the problem.

To a cursory reading the passage seems to oflfer no solution of the
difficulty but on going deeper there are to be found what seem to be
clear traces of Jeremiah's having reached the only true and worthy
answer to the question. The two contrasted statements in vv. 2 b, Sa
thou art near in tJieir mouthy and far from their reins and But thou, 0
Lord, knoivest me; thou seest me, and triest mine heart toward thee,
are generally interpreted as being evidence of the hypocrisy and sin
of his enemies when compared with the innocence and sincerity of the
prophet himself; but may they not be read as a statement of the great
fact which consoles the suffering man of God in his affliction— that
though his enemies live and are mighty yet he has in his constant access
to God a 'prosperity' which as far as real happiness is concerned goes
infinitely beyond any which they can possibly enjoy? 'He says, in effect,
that in spite of the material prosperity of the wicked, he knows that no .
relation exists between them and God, whereas he feels that he has '
entered with God into such an intimate relation that nothing further
can be desired ; in this at-oneness with God he possesses the supreme
good. In other words, he recognises^that not material prosperity con-
stitutes man's happiness, but that peace and strength of soul which is
enjoyed only by him who lives a life of righteousness and feels himself
at one~with God.' Buttenwieser, op. cit. p. 1<S. If this interpretation
be adopted it seems almost necessary to reject v. 3 h which has already
been done upon other grounds by Duhm and even by Cornill. The
section ends with a rebuke to the prophet for his impatience; if he
complains at the beginning of his trials how will he be able to endure
those greater hardships which are yet to come upon him ? The problem
of the prosperity of the wicked is often referred to in OT., notably in
Ps. xxxvii., xlix., Ixxiii., and in the book of Job where the question is
approached from the side of the suffering of the righteous.

1. when I plead. Plead has a forensic application; the prophet is
willing to allow that if he were to bring an action against God, God
would gain the verdict. Cf. Theognis, 373 ff. 'Dear Zeus, I wonder at

4/"

110 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xii. 1-5

yet would I ^reason the cause with thee: wherefore doth the
way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they at ease that
deal very treacherously ? 2 Thou hast planted them, yea, they
have taken root; they gi'ow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou
art near in their mouth, and far from their reins. 3 But thou,
O Lord, knowest me ; thou seest me, and triest mine heart to-
ward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and
2 prepare them for the day of slaughter. 4 How long shall the
land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? for the
wickedness of them that dwell therein, the beasts are consumed,
and the birds ; because they said, He shall not see our latter end.
5 If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee,

1 Heb. speak judgements. ^ Heb. sanctify.

thee : thou art the lord of all; thou hast great power and honour and
knowest well the thoughts of each man's heart. How then, son of
Cronus, dost thou think lit to deal the same measure to sinful and just,
careless whether their hearts are turned to moderation or to insolence?'
Quoted hy .James Adam, Relig. Teachers of Greece, p. 87.

2. in. their mouth. The wicked have God's name on their lips but
their deeds are not in agreement with their words.

3. triest mine heart. The prophet's heart was tried by the bitter
test of suffering.

sheep. Cf. xi. 19, a somewhat vindictive reversal of the metaphor.
Cheyne says of this passage, 'There is the dross of human frailty in
this... to be excused, not to be justified. And whenever we read such
words even in the Scripture... let us mentally correct them in accord-
ance with the words, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what
they do.'" {Life and Times of Jer. t^. III.)

day of slaughter. Cf. xxv. 34; Jas. v. 5; and in extra-canonical
literature, Ps. Sol. viii. 1 ; En. xciv. 9.

4. In the eyes of the prophets the dumb creation and even the land
itself are involved in the sufferings of the human race (cf Ps. cvii. 34),
but they also share in its rejoicings (Is. xliii. 20, &c.).

mourn. Cf Am. i. 2; Hos. iv. 3; Joel i. 10, &c.

ou/r latter end. The meaning is that even if the prophet's predic-
tions are fulfilled he will not have the satisfaction of knowing this for
means will have been found to bring his life to a sudden close in the
mean time. Probably, however, the reading of lxx. is to be preferred,
He (i.e. God) seeth not our ivays.

5 f These vv. seem a little out of place though it is hardly neces-
sary to suppose that anything has fallen out after v. 4. God makes His
reply to Jeremiah, and, as it were, forecloses the discussion by rebuking
the prophet's impatience, just as in the drama of Job He overwhelms

XII. 5, 6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 1 1 1

then how canst thou contend with horses? and though in a land
of peace thou art secure, yet how wilt thou do in the ^ pride of
Jordan? 6 For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father,
even they have dealt treacherously with thee; even they have
cried aloud after thee : believe them not, though they speak
^fair words unto thee.

1 Or, swelling 2 Heb. good things.

the patriarch from the midst of the whirhvind (xxxviii. 1 ff.). Two
striking figures are used to warn Jeremiah of the hardships which lie
before him ; his past endurance_has been only that of one who runs
against men, he will yet have to run against horsesfaiid^ven the dangers
througTrwlifch he has come have been those of a civilised land, those
of the future wiir be like the perils of the jungle.

5. contend. The Hebrew word gives the idea of hotly striving to
excel and is used again in xxii. 15 of Jehoiakim's building operations.

pride of Jordan. Lit. sivelling, the 'ld.p8r]v 8pv/xos of Josephus (Bell.
Jud. vii. vi. 5), the luxuriant undergrowth of the Jordan valley which
formed the home of wild beasts (cf xlix. 19 = 1. 44; Zech. xi. 3). The
great heat caused the trees and shrubs to grow to an immense height.
Travellers of the present day record temperatures of 109° F. in the
shade during the month of May and 95° F. even after sunset. The valley
is still the haunt of wild animals.

Chapter XH. 7—17.
God's Lament over the Desolation of His Heritage.

This prophecy is usually held to refer to the invasion q£ . Ju^iah by the
neighbouring peoples after the revolt of Jehoiakim against Nebuchadrezzar
(see 2 K. xxiv. 1, 2). The opening v. however suggests a calamity of even greater
magnitude ; the forsaking by Jehovah of His house can hardly refer to anything
less than the fall of Jerusalem itself. If the whole passage is a unity it seems,
most likely that it comes from the time immediately after the first capture o^
Jerusalem in 597 B.C. when indignation was still felt against the surrounding
nations for their share in the desolation of the land. There is a good deal how-
ever to be said for Duhm's distinction between vv. 7 — 13 and vv. 14 — 17. In
the earlier section there is no clear reference to attacks from Judah's neighbours,
V. 9 is merely a description of the besiegers, and in the same way the many
shepherds of v. 10 are the various leaders of the Babylonian army as in vi. 3.
Duhm's further suggestion that vv. 14 — 17 come from the time of John Hyrcanus
has little to recommend it and is open to serious objections (cf. Cornill,
ad loc).

112 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xii. 7-12

7 I have forsaken mine house, I have cast oiF mine heritage ;
I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her
enemies. 8 Mine heritage is become unto me as a lion in the
forest : she hath uttered her voice against me ; therefore I have
hated her. 9 Ts mine heritage unto me as a speckled bird of prey?
are the birds of prey against her round about? go ye, assemble
all the beasts of the field, bring them to devour. 10 Many
shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my
portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a
desolate wilderness. 11 They have made it a desolation; it
mourneth unto me, being desolate; the whole land is made
desolate, because no man layeth it to heart. 12 Spoilers are
come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness : for the sword

7 — 13. This section is generally accepted as being the work of

Jeremiah ; the main point upon which critics are at variance in regard

to it is as to whether it is a forecast of events about to come to pass,

1 or whether it looks back on a devastation already accomplished, the

latter view being that supported by Graf and Hitzig.

7. Tliis 'V. seems connected with xi. 15 and is the sequel to it;
because the beloved of Jehovah has polluted His house, therefore He has
forsaken it and she herself has been given over to her enemies.

mine house. Probably here used in the wider sense of land (as in
Hos. viii. 1, ix. 15) rather than temple.

8. as a lion. Judah has roared against the Lord like a lion and
has taken up a position of hostihty to Him. This simile is a good
example of Hebrew usage which lays stress on one point only of the
comparison and ignores the rest; here, for example, there is no question
of the action of Judah inspiring fear in the Lord, such as the roar of
the lion brings to the wayfarer. For a similar reason, Duhm's sugges-
tion, that the use of a lion as a symbol of the nation implies that it was
still powerful, may be put on one side.

9. unto me., .bird of prey &c. Graf suggests that ■•?, thtt, should be
read for v, unto me; the two questions then become one and may be
translated Is mine heritage as a speckled bird of prey, that the birds
of prey &c. The figure is based on the habit of birds attacking any
other bird of unfamiliar plumage; this habit was noted and commented
on by classical writers (cf. PHny, Hist. Nat. x. 19 ; Tacitus, Ann. vi. 28 ;
Suetonius, Caes. 81).

all the beasts. Cf. Ls. Ivi. 9.

11. unto me. Cf. Gen. xxxiii. 13 and xlviii. 7 (RVm.).

no man layeth it to heart, i.e. no one has considered what will be
the result of Judah's policy; cf v. 13; Is. Ivii. 1.

12. bare heights. A favourite word in Jeremiah where six out of
the ten instances of its use occur.

XII. I.-I7] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 113

of the Lord devoureth from the one end of the land even to the
other end of the land: no flesh hath peace. 13 They have sown
wheat, and have reaped thorns; they have put themselves to
pain, and profit nothing : and ^ye shall be ashamed of your fruits,
because of the fierce anger of the Lord.

14 Thus saith the Lord against all mine evil neighbours, that
touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to
inherit : Behold, I will pluck them up from ofl" their land, and
will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. 15 And it
shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them up, I will
return and have compassion on them; and I will bring them
again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.
16 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the
ways of my people, to swear by my name. As the Lord liveth ;
even as they taught my people to swear by Baal ; then shall they
be built up in the midst of my people. 17 But if they will not

^ Or, he ye ashamed Or, they shall be ashamed

flesh. This expression is used to represent humanity in its weak-
ness and transitoriness (cf. Is. xl. 5 f. &c.). In xxxii. 27 the stress is
on the close connexion between the natural man and the lower world.

13. The crop is not merely to be a failure (as in Hag. i. 6), or to
become the property of foemen (as in Mic. vi. 15), but it will produce
deadly evil (cf. Is. lix. 5). The exact reference is obscure, the subject
of the sentence, whether it be taken to be the sjwileis of v. 1 2 or the
people of Judah, is equally difficult in the present context of the verse.

14 — 17. Judah is after all the Lord's inheritance, although He
appears to have forsaken it, and those who ravage it will themselves
be turned away into perpetual exile unless indeed they adopt the
worship of Jehovah. The attitude of this prophecy is not that which
is usually found in Jeremiah: here it is the nations who have caused |
Judah to sin {v. 16), she herself is hardly responsible and in due time*
Jehovah will restore her. There is no condemnation of the sin which
brought upon Judah her punishment and it is Jehovah who will turn
to Judah, not Jud_ah who will turn to Him. Such an attitude of mind
is, however, quite possible in Jeremiah, especially after the destruction
of the kingdom, and the expectation of the exile of the other nations
is clearly stated in ch. xxv.

14. evil neighbours. The destruction is not to be due to Babylon
alone : cf Ez. xxv. 3, 8, xxviii. 24, &c. ; Zech. ii. 8.

""15. Cf Am. ix. 14; Ez. xxviii. 25.
16. For a similar anticipation of the nations turning to worship
Jehovah see xvi. 19 f

he built up. Cf. Job xxii. 23 * If thou return unto the Almighty

B. 8

114 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xii. 17-xiii. 1

hear, then will I pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying
it, saith the Lord.

thou shalt be built up.' The Idea of the spiritual society as a building
is further developed in many well-known passages in NT. (e.g. Eph. ii.
20 f.; 1 Pet. ii. 5, &c.). ' ""

17. The opportunity of hearing the word of the Lord is also an
opportunity of refusing to accept it, and so of reaping the consequences :
of. Is, Ix. 12; Zech. xiv. 17. ' —

Chapter XIII.
Warnings and Lamentation.

This ch. consists of a series of warnings, some in the form of acted parables,
ending with a lamentation over the fate of Jerusalem. There is no apparent
connexion between the various sections except a similarity in subject matter,
which is doubtless the reason for their being grouped together. The following
are the natural divisions of the ch. ; {a) and (6) are written in the elevated prose
style so often adopted by the prophets, the rest in the Qinah measure.

(a) The parable of the buried waist-cloth. 1 — 11.

(6) The parable of the wine-bottles. 12 — 14.

(c) A warning to the pride ofJudah. 15 — 17.

{d) A warning to the pride of the ruHng house. 18 f.

(e) A lamentation over ^the beautiful flock.' 20 — 27.

XIII. 1 Thus said the Lord unto me, Go, and buy thee a

XIII. 1 — 11. The prophet in accordance with God's instructions
buys a linen waist-cloth, and after wearing it for a short time receives
a second command to hide it in a hole in the rock on the Euphrates.
After some time a third message from God orders him to recover it,
and on so doing he finds that the waist-cloth has become marred and
useless. The section closes with an explanation of the parable.

Several questions are raised by this parable, (i) Is it intended to
be taken as literal fact, and if so what does the prophet mean by
Euphrates ? (ii) What is the teaching intended to be conveyed ?
(iii) From what period of the prophet's activity does the parable come?
(i) Parables such as this invariably cause disagreement amongst critics
as to whether the prophet is recording events which actually took place
ior whether he merely employs a vivid form of narrative. In the case
of many of Ezekiel's parables it is almost certain that some of the actions
were performed by the prophet in imagination only, and the same pro-
bably applies to Jeremiah &,lso. In the present instance the mention of
a specific place as the scene of the action does not by any means pre-
clude discussion as to the reality of what took place — the imagination of

XIII. r-4] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 115

linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.
2 So I bought a girdle according to the word of the Lord, and
put it upon my loins. 3 And the word of the Lord came unto
me the second time, saying, 4 Take the girdle that thou hast
bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and

the prophets was exceedingly vivid, and Jeremiah would quite naturally
fix upon some place as being suitable in his own mind for hiding the
girdle. If the Heb. word ^'}r' ( PVa ^A)_rendered Euphrates be taken to
refer to the town of Parah, not many miles from the prophet's home at i
Anathoth, there is a sufficient reason for his choice (see further on v. 4).
The question, however, is not one of great importance ; the teaching for
which the incident forms the vehicle is quite independent of any ques-
tion of whether it actually happened or not. (if) Critics agree that the
waist-cloth represents Judah, which has been brought near to God, but
they disagree_as^ tothe interpretation of the details. Graf, followed by
Cornill, looks upon the spoiling of the girdle as jrepresenting the moral
corruption of the people through Babylonian influences (cf ii. 18"),
which was the cause of the exile ; Keil and the older critics say that it
' signifies not the moral but the physical decay of the covenant people,' '
which was to take place after God had thrown them ofi" from Him-
self The second line of explanation seems to fit the time sequence of
the parable better than J;he former, (iii) Cornill, who sees in the cor-
ruption of the girdle the influence of Babylon, places the incident early
in the ministry of Jeremiah. There is, however, very little clue to the
period from which it comes.

1. linen was the material for priestly wear (Lev. vi. 10, &c.).

girdle. The garment here meant is not a girdle but rather a waist-
cloth. See W. Robertson Smith in JQR. 1892, pp. 289 flf.

put it not in water. The girdle was to be kept from the water which
was afterwards to cause its decay : commentators see inlliis a_reference
to the early purity of Isxagl and Judah.

4. Euphrates. "The English name for this river is derived, through
the Greek, from the Old Persian Ufrdtu ; whilst the Heb. Jji? (P'rdth)
represents the Assyrian Purdtu. In this passage there is some dispute
regarding the correctness of translation of the Heb., because in other
places when it represents the Euphrates it usually has the word for
'river' written befor.e-it; but as examples occur without any such addi-
tion (e.g. li. 63; Gen. ii. 4) this objection is not insuperable. As the
future scene of the exile of Judah, the Euphrates would be a suitable |
place for burying the waist-cloth ; but against it there are two further
objections. The first is geographical; the river in_ the neighbourhood
of Babylon is not rocky, though above Carchemish steep banks are
to be found which would suit the requirements of the v. The other
objection is more serious; it has been pointed out that the decay of the
waist-cloth takes place after the burying in the rock, and therefore that .
Jeremiah intended to imply by the parable that the captivity would '

8—2

116 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xiii. 4-10

hide it there in a hole of the rock. 5 So T went, and hid it by
Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. 6 And it came to pass
after many days, that the Lord said unto me, Arise, go to
Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded
thee to hide there. 7 Then I went to Euphrates, and digged,
and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and,
behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.
8 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 9 Thus
saith the Lord, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah,
and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, which
refuse to hear my words, which walk in the stubbornness of their
heart, and are gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship
them, shall even be as this girdle, which is profitable for nothing.

end in the ruin of the nation, a view which is quite opposed to his
teaching elsewhere. As long ago as 1880 Birch, in PEFQS. pp. 236 ff.,
suggested that the Heb. should be read as nns (Parah), and that the
reference is to the small town mentioned in Josh, xviii. 23. This place
lis only a few miles from Anathoth and would therefore be very familiar
to the prophet, and its insignificance might easily cause a post-exilic
scribe to ' correct ' it into the present reading which in his eyes would
then contain a forecast of the captivity.

6. after many days. According to Keil's interpretation of the
parable these represent the seventy years of the exile. If the double
journey to the River Euphrates Is taKen literally much time must have
been spent on it, and there is no trace of Jeremiah's having been to
Babylon or its neighbourhood. ,

7. marred. The waist-cloth had been spoiled by water penetrating
to it. If the suggestion in the note on v. 4 be accepted the damage would
most likely have been caused by the waters of the Wady Fcira.

8 — 11. The explanation of the symbolical act. Just as the waist-
cloth has been spoiled by the water, so will the pride of Judah and
Jerusalem be broken down by the disasters which will come upon them.
The passage as it stands seems to contain statements which are not,
strictly speaking, consistent the'^one with the other. In v. 9, for
example, the marring has yet to tale place, presumably during the
exile when the nation's pride will be reduced to helpless shame; but in
-v. 11 there is the statement that it is on account of the marred con-
Idition of the waist-cloth that God is going to cast it away from Him;
that is, presumably, the nation is to be sent into exile. Cornill would
restore consistency by making large omissions ; but such drastic treat-
ment seems really unnecessary. We must not expect to find logical and
balanced utterances coming from the lips of a prophet like Jeremiah,
of one who was struggling to express by every means that he knew the
dangerous state into which the nation had fallen and the near approach

XIII. ii-h] the book of JEREMIAH 117

1 1 For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I
caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole
house of Judah, saith the Lord ; that they might be unto me for
a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glorj^ : but
they would not hear. 12 Therefore thou shalt speak unto them
this word: Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Every ^bottle
shall be filled with wine : and they shall say unto thee, Do we
not know that every ^bottle shall be filled with wine? 13 Then
shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will fill
kail the inhabitants of this land, even the kings that sit ^upon
David's throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. 14 And I will dash
them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together,

^ Or, jar ^ Heb. for David upon his throne.

of punishment. The inconsistency, which is really only verbal, is pro-,^
bably original.

11. Cf. Dt. xxvi. 19; Is. Ixiii. 12 if.

praise... glory. Cf Eph. i. 14 'to the praise of bis glory.'
12 — 14. The parable of the wine-bottles. In this passage the pro-
phet is evidently combating the influence of some popular proverb or
saying which tended to lull the people into a false sense of security.
In his usual vigorous and almost ruthless manner Jeremiah shews that
this saying, like so many otliers, is capable of bearing several interpre-
tations. On the lips of the people no doubt it meant that just as bottles
are made to be filled with wine and in due course the wine is poured
into them, so the men of Judah will receive the reward of being God's
chosen people: Jeremiah, on the other hand, shews that the proverb,
far from representing the certainty of Judah's triumph, is a guarantee
of its punishment.

12. bottle. The Heb. word is used for a vessel for wine in 1 S. i. 24,
X. 3; 2 S. xvi. 1, and may quite easily be used of a wine-skin (the root
meaning of the word is unknown); in this passage, however, Jar seems
to be required (cf v. 14), and this use can be established from xlviii. 12;
Is. xxii. 24, XXX. 14, &c.

13. Having got the people to acknowledge the truth of the maxim,
the prophet, speaking in God's name, turns it against them. Just as a
jar is filled with wine so will the men of Judah be filled with the wine
of God's wrath and made ' drunken.'

drunhenness is also used to express the results of God's wrath in
XXV. 15 f; Is. \\. 17, 21, &c.

14. dash them. The people in their drunken fury will destroy one
another.

the fathers and ths sons. Cf. ix. 21 'young man and child.'

118 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xiii. 14-18

saith the Lord : I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion,
that 1 should not destroy them.

15 Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud: for the Lord hath
spoken. 16 Give glory to the Lord your God, before ^he cause
darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the ^dark mountains;
and, while ye look for light, he turn it into ^the shadow of death,
and make it gross darkness. 17 But if ye will not hear it, my
soul shall weep in secret for your pride ; and mine eye shall weep
sore, and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock is taken
captive. 18 Say thou unto the king and to the queen-mother,

^ Or, it grow dark ^ Heb. mountains of twilight.

3 Or, deep darkness

15 — 17. To the wicked who continue in sin light becomes darkness
because they are blinded by their overweening pride.

15. proud. The unbending pride of the men of Judah made it
impossible for them to realise their own shortcomings or to accept the
prophet's warnings: cf. Jn. ix. 39 — 41, xiii. 35.

16. In tills V. Jeremiah compares the situation of the nation to
that of men overtaken by sudden darkness and seeking vainly for their
lost way.

light... darkness. Cf. Jn. xii. 35. For the contrast between light
and darkness used symbolically see Westcott's note on 1 Jn. i. 5. Light
here means salvation and deliverance, as in Is. lix. 9 ^

17. The fate of the people made constant drafts on the sympathy
of Jeremiah. A rather curious Jewish tradition quoted by Edersheim
(Life and Times &c. 11. 16) applies the v. to God Himself, who after the
fall of Jerusalem 'no longer laughs, but weeps... in a secret place of His
own': cf Chagigah, 56.

weep in secret. Duhm sees in this a reference to the time when
Jeremiah was in hiding during the reign of Jehoiakim. But surely the
usual habit of the sorrowful is to choose out a place of retirement away
from the ordinary flow of life ; and in Jeremiah's case the need for soli-
tude would be infinitely greater because of the lack of sympathy of the
men of Judah. He himself has told us that on account of the burden
which was upon him he ' sat alone ' and ' did not join the assembly of
them that were merry' (xv. 17; cf xx. 8, &c.).

the Lords Jlock. Israel is represented under the figure of a flock in
V. 20, xxiii. 2; Is. xl. 11 ; and frequently in Psalms.

18 f Having warned the people of Judah on account of their pride,
Jeremiah goes on to attack the royal house on the same grounds. The
address is evidently delivered against Jehoiachin and the queen-mother
Nehushta: cf xxii. 26 and 2 K. xxiv. 8, &c.

^ Cf. Pindar, fr. 142, 'It is in the power of God. ..to shroud the day's pure
gleam in cloudy darkness.'

XIII. i8-2i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 119

^Humble yourselves, sit down : for your headtires are come down,
even ^the crown of your glory. 19 The cities of the South are
shut up, and there is none to open them : Judah is carried away
captive all of it ; it is wholly carried away captive.

20 Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the
north : where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
21 ^What wilt thou say, when he shall set thy friends over thee
as head, seeing thou thyself hast instructed them against thee ?

^ Or, Sit ye down low " Or, your beautiful crown

^ Or, What wilt thou say, when he shall visit thee, seeing thou thyself hast in-
structed them against thee, even thy friends to be head over thee?

18. the queen-mother. The office of queen-mother was one of great
importance in an oriental court (cf. 1 K. ii. 19)^; she was one, and the
wives of the king were many, and moreover the harem was under her
rule. It is true that the king had thepov?er toremove his mother from
her official position (cf. 1 K. xv. 13), but this power does not seem often
to have been exercised. From the comparatively frequent mention of
Nehushta it would seem that she was looked upon as exercising a pre-
dominant influence over her son during his short reign.

headtires. This v. is better rendered by the lxx. (slightly changing
the Heb., which is somewhat obscure), come down from your head is the
croum qf your glm'y.

19. The cities of the South. Heb. Negeh ; a district in the S. of
Judah, which evidently bore this name from very early times as the
oldest Egyptian name for it, pa-naghu, clearly shews. Negeh originally
meant dry, parched, and the meaning South is only a secondary one:
see Gray on Nu. xiii. 1 7. It seems strange that the cities of the South
should be picked out for special mention; the choice is evidently in- .
tended to shew that the invaders from the N. will penetrate throughout '
the whole country.

20 — 27. A repeated lamentation over ' the beautiful flock.' From
the certainty of captivity in the distant future the prophet comes back
to the imminence of the actual invasion which is to lead up to it
{v. 20) ; he describes the horrors which will accompany the change of
rule, and goes on to drive home the lesson that they are all due to the
ingrained sin of the nation {vv. 21—23) ; therefore a long period of
exile will be necessary, and only after much suff"ering will Jerusalem be
cleansed (vv. 24 — 27).

20. thy beautiful flock. The lamentation is addressed to Jerusalem
(cf LXX.), the fold of the flock and the home of its shepherds (cf iii. 15,
vi. 3, &c.). The term used points back to v. 17.

21. The Hebrew text of this v. is difficult and its meaning is ex-

1 Naqia the mother of Esar-haddon, king of Assyria 680—688 b.c, acted as
regent during her son's frequent absences on campaigns; see Johns, And. Bab.
p. 123.

120 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xiii. 21-27

shall not sorrows take hold of thee, as of a woman in travail ?
22 And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore are these things
come upon me ? for the ^greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts
discovered, and thy heels suffer violence. 23 Can the Ethiopian
change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? then may ye also do
good, that are ^accustomed to do evil. 24 Therefore will I scatter
them, as the stubble that passeth away, ^by the wind of the
wilderness. 25 This is thy lot, the portion measured unto thee
from me, saith the Lord ; because thou hast forgotten me, and
trusted in falsehood. 26 Therefore will I also discover thy skirts
*upon thy face, and thy shame shall appear. 27 I have seen
thine abominations, even thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the
lewdness of thy whoredom, on the hills in the field. Woe unto

^ Or, multitude ^ Heb. taught.

3 Or, unto * Or, before

ceedingly obscure. There is probably a reference to Hezekiah's friend-
ship with Merodach-baladau (Is. xxxix.) and to the days of the
Assyrian supremacy when Judah and Babylon were natural allies.
Driver's rendering brings out the force of the v. ' what wilt thou say,
when he shall set over thee as head those whom thou hast thyself
taught to be friends unto thee?' of. Ez. xxiii. 22 ff.

22. The metaphors used to describe the fate of Jerusalem are
themselves employed in Is. xlvii. 2 f in reference to Babylon.

23. In considering this and similar vv. it is to be remembered
that the scope of the reference is not to be limited to individuals, or
even to be applied primarily to them. W. Robertson Smith remarks
in connexion with this subject that ' the prophets were not primarily
concerned with the amendment of individual sinners; it was the
nation that they desired to see following righteousness and the know-
ledge of Jehovah, and they were too practical not to know that the
path of national amendment is to get rid of evil-doers and put better
men in their place.' The Prophets &c.^ p. 107.

the Ethiopian, i.e. Cush, the only non-white or non-Caucasian race
mentioned in Gen. x. The Cushites inhabited what is now called the
Sudan (from Arabic asivdd = h\a,<ik). At one time they were despised
by the Hebrews (cf. Am. ix. 7), but later became very powerful : cf Is.
xviii. ; and Herodotus, iii. 20. Ebed-melech was a member of this
race (xxxviii. 7, &c.).

leopard. See on iv. 11.

24. the tvind of the imldernes». Cf Is. xxi. 1 'whirlwinds... from
the desert, from a terrible land.'

25. the portion... from me. So in Job xx. 29; Ps. xi. 6.
27. neighings. Cf v. 8.

XIII. 27-xiv. i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 121

thee, 0 Jerusalem ! thou wilt not be made clean ; how long shall
it yet be ?

thou ivilt not &c. The text is better taken as a question, How
long will it he ere thou he made clean ? Cf. the similar question of
Hosea, ' How long ere they attain to innocency ?' (viii. 5).

Chapters XIV.— XV
The Drought and what came of it.

These chh. are in the form of a dialogue between the prophet and his God
in regard to a severe drought which had distressed both man and beast.
Jeremiah recognises in it a sign that Jehovah is displeased ^vith Judah and
implores Him to have mercy. God rejects his petition, and he again renews it
pleading that the nation has been led astray by those whom they had every
reason for trusting as God's messengers. God replies that the prophets who
misled the people spoke lies in His Name and that they shall accordingly be
punished, but the doom of the nation cannot be averted. Jeremiah again replies
and reminds God of His covenant with Israel. The prophet's supplication is
once more rejected, nothing can save the people. Jeremiah thereupon breaks
into a lament regretting the day of his birth. God comforts him and at the
same time reproves him for his want of faith.

Critics are much at variance on the question of the contents of these chh.
and of the integrity of the section as a whole ; most of them separate xv. 10 — 21
from the earlier part of the ch. and doubt whether it has any connexion with it
apart from chance arrangement. It would, however, seem quite natural for the
prophet to burst out into a wild outcry against his bitter lot, when he realised
that God would not have mercy upon the people, and that his own message
must still be one of denunciation with all the hatred and opposition which such
a message would continue to arouse.

(a) A description of sufferings during a drought. I — 6.

(b) The people's prayer and God's reply. 7 — 10.

(c) Deceivers and deceived will alike be punished. 11 — 18.

(d) A further plea from the people. 19 — 22.

{e) God rejects their plea and proclaims their punishment, xv. 1 — 9.
(/) The despair of the prophet and God's promise of strength. 10 — 18.
(g) Further complaints are cut short and endurance is commanded.
19—21.

XIV. 1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah con-
cerning the drought,

XIV. 1 — 6. A vivid picture of the seventy and extent of the
drought. Such_a visitation was an event of great moment to an Eastern

122 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xiv. 3-6

2 Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, they sit
in black upon the ground ; and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up.

3 And their nobles send their ^little ones ^to the waters: they
come to the pits, and find no water ; they return with their vessels
empty: they are ashamed and confounded, and cover their heads.

4 Because of the ground which is ^chapt, for that no rain hath
been in the land, the plowmen are ashamed, they cover their
heads. 5 Yea, the hind also in the field calveth, and forsaketh
her young, because there is no grass. 6 And the wild asses
stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like 'jackals; their
eyes fail, because there is no herbage.

1 Or, inferiors 2 Qr, for water

3 Or, dismayed * Or, the crocodile

people, threatening as it did the means of their very existence, and no
true prophet of God could have been expected to keep silence at such
a crisis (cf. Dean Stanley on Elijah in The Jewish Church, 11. 249).

1. This V. is evidently editorial and lays more stress on the actual
drought than is perhaps justified by the text. Hitzig, followed by Cornill
and_ others, sees in the passage, xiv. 2— xv. 9, a combination of two
distinct accounts, one describing a, drought (xiv. 2—10, xiv. 19 — xv. 1),
and the other threatening sword, famine and pestilence {x\\. 12 — 18,
XV. 2 — 9). There seems no decisive argument in favour of this analysis,
the section is concerned with the various ways in which God has
punished or will punish His rebellious people, and drought and famine
are intimately connected ^

2. gates, i.e. cities, the part representing the whole, an expres-
sion very common in Deuteronomy. The representation is carried a
stage further and the gates are personified and appear as sitting upon
the ground in the garb of mourners ; cf Job ii. 13 ; Lam. ii. 10; Is. iii. 26.

3. little ones. Better as mg. inferiors or servants.

cover their heads. The confusion and grief of the servants are
emphasised; cf 2 S. xv. 30, xix. 5.

4. Those engaged in agriculture share the dismay of the towns-
people.

5f Two companion pictures are drawn of the situations of the
tame and the wild animals respectively; cf Job xxxix. 1 — 8.

5. hind. The hind is noted for its care of its young ; see Pro v. v. 19.

6. pant. Cf ii. 24, iv. 31.

jackals. The reading of mg. crocodile involves a slight change in
Heb. ; the thought suggested is the panting of the crocodiles when they
come out of the water to get air.

1 Cf. Flinders Petrie, Egypt and Israel, p. 26, 'The recent studies in Central
Asia have led to the view that there are recurring periods of dryness, which... cause
frequent famines (Huntingdon, Roy. Geog. Soc, 1910).'

XIV. 7-ri] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 123

7 Though our iniquities testify against us, work thou for thy
name's sake, 0 Lord : for our backslidings are many ; we have
sinned against thee. 8 0 thou hope of Israel, the saviour thereof
in the time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a sojourner in the
land, and as a wayfaring man that Hurneth aside to tarry for a
night ? 9 Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty
man that cannot save ? yet thou, 0 Lord, art in the midst of us,
and we are called by thy name ; leave us not.

10 Thus saith the Lord unto this people, Even so have they
loved to wander ; they have not refrained their feet : therefore
the Lord doth not accept them ; now will he remember their
iniquity, and visit their sins. 11 And the Lord said unto me,

1 Or, spreadeth his tent

7 — 10. The people confess their repeated fallings away from Jehovah
and yet they call upon Him not to forsake them. Jehovah replies that
His forsaking them and His refusal to abide with them are on account of
their own similar behaviour towards Himself. The intercession is evi-
dently spoken by the people or put into their mouth by Jeremiah
(cf. V. 10, unto this people), the drought has apparently made more
impression on them than the prophetic warnings. Duhm thinks
that the prophet is speaking ironically in view of the popular con-
ception of God as a 'good-natured' Deity; cf. Hos. v. 14 — vi. 4; Mic.
iii. 9—11.

7. for thy name's sake. This phrase has usually the idea of pre-
serving God's honour in the sight of the nations, but here the reference
is perhaps to His covenant promises ; cf vv. 8 f.

our backslidings are many. God alone can restore His people;
behind the confession of this v. one seems to discern the sad story of
many vain attempts at amendment of life.

8. hope of Israel. Cf xvii. 13.

sojourner &c. i.e. one who has no permanent interest in the nation.

to tarry for a night. Cf Hos. vi. 1 f ; Lk. xxiv. 29 ; and the phrase
in Wisd. v. 14 'the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day,'
where the stress is on the speed with which the wayfarer is himself
forgotten.

9. astonied. Read with lxx. asleep which requires only very slight
changes in two Hebrew letters : cf Ps. xliv. 23 f ; Mk. iv. 38, &c.

in th£, midst of us. The same phrase is used by the unrighteous
and blood-stained rulers of Israel in Mic. iii. 11.

10. Even so. God does but follow the example of His people, and
make the estrangement mutual.

therefore... sins. Quoted from Hos. viii. 13 h.

11 — 18. The prophet is bidden to cease from prayer on behalf of
the people and he pleads that they are deceived by their spiritual

124 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xiv. 11-16

Pray not for this people for their good. 12 When they, fast, I
will not hear their cry ; and when they offer burnt offering and
^oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by
the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. |3 Then
said I, Ah, Lord God ! behold, the prophets say unto tRem, Ye
shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine ; but I will
give you ^assured peace in this place. 14 Then the ^iORD said
unto me. The prophets prophesy lies in my name : I ^nt them
not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake I i|&to them:
they prophesy unto you a lying vision, and divination, and a
thing of nought, and the deceit of their own heart. 15 Therefore
thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that prophesy
in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and
famine shall not be in this land : By sword and famin^shall
those prophets be consumed. 16 And the people to whom
they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem
because of the famine and the sword ; and they, shall Imve

1 Or, vieal offering - Heh. peace of truth. ',/

guides (cf. ii. 6 j ; but Jehovah though punishing the prophets will not
spare those who allow themselves to be deceived.

11. Pra^ not for this people. See on vii. 16. It is difficult to
imagine that Jeremiah took God's command literally and refrained from
interceding for his nation, for 'never to a people came there a true
prophet who had not first prayed for them ' ; though doubtless the form
of his intercession was altered by the constant deepening of their sin.
Hitzig and other critics consider that this and the following v. (as far as
accept them) are an insertion to link up v. 10 and vv. 12i ft'.

12. sivord... famine... pestilence. The combination appears seven
times elsewhere in Jeremiah. It is interesting to notice that the Jews
still pray during the ten days of Penitence to be rid 'of pestilence, and
the sword, of famine, captivity and destruction,' All three forms of
suffering are the natural accompaniments of war like King Sweyn
Forkbeard's 'three wonted comrades, fire, pillage and slaughter' (Henry
of Huntingdon).

13 f For the relation of the false and the true prophets see Addi-
tional Note, pp. 182 ff.

in this place, i.e. they will not go into exile.

14. The false prophets derived their message from three sources :
vision which was legitimate ; divination which was forbidden at any rate
by Dt. xviii. 10; 2 K. xvii. 17; and their own Jiearts, a self-constituted
and therefore deceitful means of seeking inspiration. Cf Note, 'pp.
and note on xxiii. 16.

15. Cf. xliv. 12.

XIV. t6-2i] the book of JEREMIAH 125

none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their
daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them. 17 And
thou shalt say this word unto them. Let mine eyes run down >vith
tears night and day, and let them not cease; for the virgin
daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very
grievous wound. 18 If I go forth into the field, then behold the
slain with the sword ! and if I enter into the city, then behold
^them that are sick with famine ! for both the prophet and the
priest '^go about ^in the land and have no knowledge.

19 Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul loathed
Ziou? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us?
We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of
healing, and behold dismay ! 20 We * acknowledge, 0 Lord, our
wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers : for we have sinned
against thee. 21 Do not ^abhor us, for thy name's sake ; do not
disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy

1 Heb. the sicknesses of famine. " Or, traffich

' Or, into a land that they know not * Or, kyiow ° Or, contemn

16. none to bury them. The same phrase is used in Ps. Ixxix. 3 of
the fate of persecuted saints.
pour. Cf. Hos. V. 10.

18. The prophet speaks of the future as already realised when the
army of Judah will have been driven into the city, leaving many fallen
in the open field, there to be at the mercy of famine^

go about, i.e. 'as merchantmen' (so mg. traffic), or if a meaning
occasionally found in Syriac may be adopted 'as beggars.' Giesebrecht
proposes to substitute \y for D and reads are bowed in mourning to the
earth.

19 — 22. The people renew their prayer 'acknowledging their
wretchedness' and their despair of any succour apart from the God
whose covenant they have broken. Duhm, followed by Cornill, rejects
this passage together with xv. 1 — 4.

19. The only w^ay of accounting for the distress of Zion is by con-
cluding that it has been forsaken by God, its natural protector.

no healing for us. Cf. Nah. iii. 19; Wisd. ii. 1.

20. acknowledge. Heb. knoiv as in Ps. li. 3.

21. the throne of thy glory. . Cf. 1 S. ii. 8; Ecclus. xlvii. 11. The
reference is to Jerusalem and especially to the temple. If the temple
fell into the hands of the invaders God's honour would be disgraced.

^ The word in the original for them that are sick 'NI^Hri is an Aramaism for
VH, it also occurs in xvi. 4; Dt. xxix. 21; Ps. ciii. 3; 2 Ch. xxi. 19.

126 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xiv. 2r-xv. ^

covenant with us. 22 Are there any among the vanities of the
heathen that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers?
art not thou he, 0 Lord our God? therefore we will wait upon
thee; for thou hast ^made all these things.

XV. 1 Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and
Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this
people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth. 2 And
it shall come to pass, when they say unto thee. Whither shall we

^ Or, done

Similar phrases are found in NT. (e.g. Matt. xix. 28 'the throne of his
glory'; Heb. iv. 16 'the throne of grace').

22. This V. seems to refer back to the drought described in vv.
2—5.

cause rain. Cf v. 24 and see note there. Ability to produce rain
is here made a test of Divine power as it was by Elijah (1 K. xvii. 1).
The Rabbis said that there were four keys which God never trusted
I to the angels, and the chief of these is that of rain. Agricultural
peoples always have a strong sense of God as one who provides for
their crops : _ so warlike people tend to think of God as a warrior.
God is infinite, and to each nation or individual it is given to catch
. but a part of His character; and it will only be when every nation
has been won to Him and has made the contribution of its own vision
that anything like fulness of knowledge will be possible.

_ made all these things. This v. was perhaps in the mind of the
writer of Jubilees xii. 4 ' worship the God of heaven, who causes the
rain... and has created everything.'

XV. 1 — 9. God again refuses to listen to the pleadings of the
nation. The destiny of the men of Judah is fixed and no intercessions
will make God change His attitude towards them ; henceforth 'Famine
waits and War with greedy eyes.'

1. Moses and Samuel. Cf Ps. xcix. 6 'Moses and Aaron and
Samuel'; and Ez. xiv. 14 'Noah, Daniel and Job.' The present passage
seems to refer to the value which the intercessions of these men would
have had, had they been alive, but in later Judaism the doctrine of the
'Intercession of Saints' was fully developed. (See Note, pp. 129 £)

Moses constantly interceded for Israel in his lifetime (Ex. xvii. 1 1 ,
xxxii. llf; Nu. xiv. 13 ff.), and later writers attributed the success
f of the nation to his prayers (cf Ass. Moses xi. 14). Samuel also was
noted in the same way (1 S. vii. 9f &c.) and his last thought at the
end of his active leadership of the people was that he still might inter-
cede for them (1_S. xii. 17, 23). It is rather strange that neither in
this passage nor in the similar one in Ezekiel is there any mention of
Abraham or the patriarchs. Moses is referred to elsewhere in the
prophets in Is. Ixiii. 12 and Mai. iv. 4, Samuel not at all.

'Moses and Samuel and the blest St John' are taken by Dante as

XV. .-4] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 127

go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the Lord: Such as
are for death, to death ; and such as are for the sword, to the sword;
and such as are for the famine, to the famine ; and such as are for
captivity, to captivity. 3 And I will appoint over them four ^ kinds,
saith the Lord: the sword to slay, and the dogs to ^tear, and
the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and
to destroy. 4 And I will cause them to be tossed to and fro
among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the
son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

1 Eieh. families. " Heb. drag.

types of souls in the highest state of bliss {Farad, iv. 29) probably
owing to the influence of this passage, otherwise Moses and Elias would
have seemed a more natural choice.

2. death. Pestilence is more usual in these combinations (e.g.
xviii. 21 and Ez. v. 12, &c.) and very probably such is here the meaning
of death, cf. 'the Black Death.' A natural death rather than one by
violence or misadventure is meant; cf. 6a.vaTo<i in Rev. vi. 8, xviii. 8;
and in 2 S. xxiv. 15 (lxx.).

3. four kinds, i.e. of destruction. Cf. the Babylonian idea of the
four great plagues, Delitzsch, Parad. p. 146.

dogs. Orientals regard dogs as ignoble creatures, being acquainted
with them only as the 'tierce prowlers of the night and scavengers of
the street.' The references in OT. are constantly unfavourable and
often in connexion with devouring corpses, e.g. 1 K. xiv. 11, xvi. 4;
Ps. Ixviii. 34; Ex. xxii. 30, &c., and cf. Homer, Iliad, i. 4 f.

'Whose limbs unburied on the naked shore.
Devouring dogs and hungry vultures tore.'

to tear. Lit. to drag (as mg.). The word is used here and in
xxii. 19 of corpses being dragged along the ground, and in xlix. 20 and
1. 45 of captives being dragged away like sheep. It is found elsewhere
only in 2 S. xvii. 13.

4. to be tossed. The root of the Heb. word means to shalce and
so either to cause fear or to tremble. Driver suggests the translation
/ will make them a consternation which includes both meanings.

Manasseh the son of Hezekiah. Later writers looked upon Manasseh^
almost as a counterpart of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made'
Israel to sin. It is rather difficult to imagine that the second half of
this V. comes from Jeremiah who looks upon the coming judgement as
being a punishment for the sins of the whole nation and of the con-
temporary generation especially; also it teaches that the sins of the
fathers were being avenged on the children, a doctrine with which
Jeremiah did not agree (cf. xxxi. 30 and see Charles, Eschatology^, p. 59).
As Cornill says,_'if he really believed that the sins of Manasseh were
unpardonable his whole prophetic activity would have been meaning-

128 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xv. 5-8

5 For who shall have pity upon thee, 0 Jerusalem ? or who shall
bemoan thee? or who shall turn aside to ask of thy welfare?

6 Thou hast rejected me, saith the Lord, thou art gone back-
ward : therefore have I stretched out my hand against thee, and
destroyed thee; I am weary with repenting. 7 And I have
fanned them with a fan in the gates of the land ; I have bereaved
them of children, I have destroyed my people; they have not
returned from their ways. 8 Their widows are increased to me
above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them ^against
the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused

^ Or, against the mother and the young men

less.' The Hebrew form of Hezekiah used is that which is common in
Chronicles and this supports the suggestion that v. 4 6 is a gloss, though
on the other hand it can hardly be a very late one as 2 Ch. xxxiii. 1 1 ff.
takes it for granted that Manasseh's sins were forgiven him. Cf. Well-
hausen, Hist. Israel, p. 207.

5 f. The desolation of Jerusalem has come upon her of her own
free will; she has deserted God and therefore her own friends and
lovers have deserted her. The vv. might be paraphrased in the words
of a modern poet 'all things betray thee, who betrayest Me.'

5. Cf Is. li. 19; Nah. iii. 7 (of Nineveh). _

6. Cf. Hos. xiii. 14 'repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.'

7. fan. i.e. a winnowing-fcyrk, such as is intended in Matt. iii. 12
'whose fan is in his hand.' For fuller particulars see Enc. Bib. 84;
Driver, Jeremiah, p. 360; and for the process cf. note on iv. 11.

the gates of the land. i.e. the entrances, hardly the cities which is
the meaning of gates in some passages. There is possibly a reference
to the disaster at Megiddo.

they have not returned. The men of Judah continue to carry out
their own plans in spite of the disasters which fall upon them. The
losses inflicted by the plundering bands before Jerusalem itself was
finally invested were examples of God's warnings.

8. motlier of the young men. This phrase has caused much trouble
to most critics mainly because they have insisted on taking D^. as a
construct before "'•1'^? (except Duhm who emends the text), lxx. as
Buttenwieser points out {op. cit. p. 192), in reading ixrjrepa veavto-Kovs
took the words as being co-ordinate. OX probably refers to Jerusalem,
the mother-city (cf 2 S. xx. 19 'a city and a mother in Israel'), as
Rashi already saw, and ""-ina to the picked or chosen warriors (cf 2 S.
vi. l,&c.). The phrase can then be paraphrased I have brought [upon
them] against the metropolis yea against the picked troops which garrison
it one who will destroy them.

noonday. Noonday is the time of rest (see on vi. 4). The attack is
therefore to come suddenly. The expression may almost be taken as

XV. 8, 9] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 129

anguish and terrors to fall upon her suddenly, 9 She that hath
borne seven languisheth ; she hath given up the ghost ; her
sun is gone down while it was yet day ; she hath been ashamed
and confounded : and the residue of them will I deliver to the
sword before their enemies, saith the Lord.

referring not to the exact time when the city was to fall, but to the
brief period of its resistance^

anguish. Heb. "'"'^ the usual meaning of which is 'city'; Driver
{op. cit. pp. 360 f) suggests a derivation from "i-iy ' to be stirred up.' It
is possible that the word is an Aramaism (cf "i^ = adversary Dan. iv. 16 ;
and see Driver's note on 1 S. xxviii. 16).

9. The magnitude of the coming slaughter can be conceived from
the fact that even the mother of seven has lost all her children and the
hope of her household is extinguished.

She that hath home seven. A figure for perfect happiness in a woman :
cf. 1 S. ii. 5 'the barren hath borne seven'; and Job i. 2, xlii. 13;
Ruth iv. 15.

given up the. ghost. Heb. breathed out her soul; cf Job xxxi. 39.

sun... day. The figure of the sun going down while it was yet day
suggests that the loss was unnecessary as well as unexpected. There
may be a reference to the eclipse of Sept. 30, 610 B.C. (cf Payne Smith,
ad loc).

Additional Note on xv. 1.

The ^Intercession of Saints' in Jeivish Literature.

In the comment on the v. it was said that the reference was probably to the
value which the intercessions of Mosesgand Samuel would have had in case they \^
had been alive at the time and had interceded for the men of Judah. Later
Jewish thought would have found no difficulty in extending the eflFective opera-
tion of their jjrayers beyond the time when they ceased to live on the earth.
Even in OT. itself there are a number of passages which recognise the value
and the possibility of intercession by beings in another sphere.

Job V. 1 : Call now ; is there any that will answer thee ?

And to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn ?

Job xxxiii. 24 : Then he (an angel) is gracious mi to him and saith,
Deliver him from going down to the pit.

Zech. i. 12: Then the angel... said, 0 Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not
have mercy on Jerusalem ?

2 Mace. XV. 14 : This., .is the lover of the brethren who prayeth fervently for
the people and the holy city, Jeremiah the prophet of God.

Tob. xii. 12: I (Raphael) did bring the memorial of your prayer before the
glory of the Lord. (Cf. Rev. viii. 3 f.)

1 Cf. G. A. Smith, Twelve Prophets, ii. 62,
B. 9

130 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xv. lo, n

The Jewish Pseudepigraphal works contain many references to this doctrine,
especially the book of Enoch, two of which are as follows :

ix. 3 : To you the holy ones of heaven the souls of men make their suit.

XV. 2: Say to the watchers of heaven... you should intercede for men and
not men for you.

(For a fuller investigation into the subject see Charles' Note on Test. Levi
iii. 5 in his commentary on The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs ; Weber,
Altsyn. Theol. pp. 287 ff.^)

10 Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of
strife and a man of contention to the whole earth ! I have not
lent on usury, neither have men lent to me on usury ; yet every
one of them doth curse me. 11 The Lord said. Verily ^I will

1 The Vulgate has, thy remnant shall be for good.

10 — 18. Jeremiah is prepared to sink under the weight of op-
pression and persecution which has come upon him owing to the ill-will
of his enemies ; his life is too hard to be borne and as in xx. 14 he
curses the day of his birth. In his despair he likens his isolation to
that of a money-lender whom his debtors avoid, or to a debtor who will
not pay his debts. The word of the Lord burning in his bones forbade
him to mingle with the company of those who were making merry, and
in his deep loneliness the prophet even despairs of God Himself
Longing and aching to draw his countrymen from their ruinous courses
Jeremiah is, by the very efforts that he makes for them, cut off and
set apart to be a mark for derision and an object of rejection.

It is interesting to notice that the message which the prophet had
to deliver was so often one which made him shrink back from his task.
He was impelled by no mere flood of emotion, but by the clear and
calm realisation of the will of God, and of his own duty in connexion
with the declaration of it.

10. strife. Here used of one attacked, ' an object of contention '
as in Ps. Ixxx. 6, usually of the aggressors : cf Is. xli. 11 ; Job xxxi. 35.

whole earth. An exaggeration if taken literally, but at the same
time an evidence of Jeremiah's realisation of the universal scope of
his mission.

lent. The statements in the second half of the v. give a glimpse
into the state of the nation, usury is evidently very common and the
money-lenders rapacious. To lend, or to borrow, has the same effect
apparently of arousing the mutual ill-will of those concerned in the
transaction. ' The effect of money relations upon friendship seems to
be part of the worldly wisdom of all ages.'

curse. The belief in the efficacy of a curse in ancient times made
it something to be dreaded: cf Nu. xxii. 6; 2 S. iii. 35.

11. A V. of great difficulty which is rejected by many critics and

1 Cf. also Philo, de Excer. ix.; Ass. Moses xi. 11, 17, xli. 6; Apoc. Bar. ii. 2.

XV. II-I6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 131

^strengthen thee for good ; verily "I will cause the enemy to make
supplication unto thee in the time of evil and in the time of
affliction.

12 ^Can one break iron, even iron from the north, and brass?
13 Thy substance and thy treasures will I give for a spoil without
price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. 14 And
*I will make them to pass with thine enemies into a land which
thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall
burn upon you.

15 0 Lord, thou knowest : remember me, and visit me, and
avenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy long-
suffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered reproach.
16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy words
were unto me a joy and the rejoicing of mine heart : for I am

1 Another reading is, release. * Or, I will intercede for thee with the enemy

* Or, Can iron break iron from <&c.

* Or, I will make thine enemies to pass into (&c. According to some ancient
authorities, I will make thee to serve thine enemies in a land (&c. See oh. xvii. 4.

largely emended by others, lxx. differs considerably from MT. which
contains a word that is probably Aramaic. Buttenwieser {op. cit. p. 95)
rejects v>v. 11 — 14, and thinks that v. 15 is the natural continuation of
V. 10. It certainly seems likely that lyv. 13 f., at any rate, have been
inserted here from their proper context after xvii. 2 (where they re-
appear), v-v. 11 f seem to contain a reminiscence of the Divine promise
in i. 18 which the prophet is endeavouring to recall.

12. This V. also has caused great perplexity amongst commentators ;
perhaps the best way of taking it is to follow the margin Can iron break
iron from the North, and to read it as a complaint of Jeremiah that
though God has made him iron, his enemies are iron of even harder
substance. The alternative is to put the words into the mouth of God
and to apply iron to the Babylonians, as Ewald does, ' Can anything
avail to resist the power of the Chaldeans, the Northern Colossus ? '

13 f == xvii. 3 i. These m\ interrupt the dialogue between God and
the prophet and are rejected by nearly all critics.

15. Jeremiah's appeal for vengeance on his enemies is based on
the fact that it was for God's sake that the prophet suffered; the sin
against the servant demands the intervention of the Master; cf Ps.
viii. 5, Ixix. 7.

16. / did eat them. This phrase probably suggested Ez. ii. 8 —
iii. 3. The later writer, however, has worked out the thought in a way
which is slightly too materialistic and literal.

rejoicing. The prophet at the outset of his ministry rejoiced to be
God's servant ; in the first flush of enthusiasm when his earlier shrinking
had been overcome he was conscious only of the strength of Him who

9—2

132 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xv. 16-19

called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. 17 I sat not in the
assembly of them that make merry, nor rejoiced : I sat alone
because of thy hand ; for thou hast filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which
refuseth to be healed? wilt thou indeed be unto me as a deceitful
hrooh, as waters that ^fail?

19 Therefore thus saith the Lord, If thou return, then will I
bring thee again, that thou may est stand before me ; and if thou
take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth:
they shall return unto thee, but thou shalt not return unto them.

^ Heb. are not sure.

had called him. He had first learned that strength in the 'eagle
flight ' of a Divine revelation, he had yet to learn its sustaining power
in the ' walk ' of common life ; cf. Is. xl. 31.

17. The prophet could take no joy in the ordinary pleasures of life
because all the while he was filled with a divine indignation (the word
is always used of God except here and in Hos. vii. 16), and could see
beneath the outward rejoicing the inward corruption and rottenness
which were eating away the life of the nation ; cf xvi. 5 — 9.

thy hand. Cf 2 K. iii. 15 (of Ehsha); Is. viii. 11; Ez. i. 3, &c.

18. Jeremiah's task was one which could never be finished — the
people would persist in their sinful ways and their sins would call
forth his continual rebuke.

incurable. Like the hurt of the people (x. 19, xxx. 12).

deceitful. Job makes use of the same metaphor in his complaint
about the treatment of his brethren (vi. 15). For a use of the metaphor
in an opposite sense see xxxi. 12; Is. Iviii. 11. The prophet was going
through sufferings which foreshadowed in some slight degree that ex-
perience of our Blessed Lord which called forth the great cry of
dereliction (Mk. xv. 34).

19 — 21. God's answer to the prophet's complaint. He reassures
and strengthens him, and yet at the same time points out that his
distrust and lack of courage unfit him for the life-work which he has
undertaken. If he is to continue to be God's prophet Jeremiah must
put away his uncertainty and despair (cf i. 17).

19. If thou return. Jeremiah had fallen away from God by his
despair and needed to repent on his own behalf; cf. Zech. iii. 7.

stand before me. i.e. be my servant. (See on xxxv. 19.)

the precious from the vile. Driver paraphrases 'if thou separatest,
like a refiner, what is pure and divine in thee from the slag of earthly
passion and weakness with which it is mixed.'

mouth. Cf Ex. iv. 16, vii. 1.

they shall return... them. Jeremiah had evidently fallen into the

XV. .0-xvi. .] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 133

20 And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall ;
and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against
thee : for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith
the Lord, 21 And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the
wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.

error which threatens God's servants in every age of attempting to
conform too much to the wishes of his contemporaries'.

20. The renewal of the call is accompanied by a renewal of the
promises.

Chapters XVI.-XVH. 18.

Messages of Ruin and Comfort both to Individuals
and to the State.

These chh. are usually grouped together as a single narrative but the various
elements composing them have probably been collected and arranged by one
or more editors. In spite of Duhni's remark that though this passage is 'very
interesting' it is not genuine, there does not seem to be any real reason for
attributing it to any other than the prophet ; at the same time it is impossible
to assign it to any particular date with any certainty. The following principal
divisions may be adopted for purposes of analysis {vv. xvi. 14 f. recur in xxiii. 7 f.
and ai'e not included).

{a) The fate of those who marry and of their offsprmg. 1 — 13.

(6) The sin ofJudah will he punished hy exile. 16 — xvii. 4.

(c) The contrast between those who trust in man and those ^cho put
their trust in the Lord. 5 — 13.

(rf) The prophet's appeal. 14 — 18.

XVI. 1 The word of the Lord came also unto me, saying,

XVI. 1 — 13. The prophet is forbidden to take a wife, for the
times are evil, and the offspring of those who marry will not survive,
parents and children will alike perish {vv. 1 — 4) ; moreover the prophet
muct not take part in feasts of joy or of mourning for in the wave of
universal calamity which is coming all such feasts, with those who
partake of them, will be submerged {vv. 5 — 9); all these evils are the
result of the idolatry of the people and the prophet is commanded to
announce their true nature {vv. 10 — 13).

^ The phrase is so taken by St Thomas Aquinas who says that ' we love sinners
in charity, not that we should wish what they wish, or rejoice at what they rejoice
in, but to make them wish what we wish and rejoice in wliat is matter of joy to
us.' Summa II. ii. xxv, 6*.

134 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xvi. 2-6

2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons
or daughters in this place. 3 For thus saith the Lord concerning
the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place,
and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning
their fathers that begat them in this land: 4 They shall die ^of
grievous deaths ; they shall not be lamented, neither shall they
be buried ; they shall be as dung upon the face of the ground :
and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine ; and
their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the
beasts of the earth. 5 For thus saith the Lord, Enter not into
the house of mourning, neither go to lament, neither bemoan
them : for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the
Lord, even lovingkindness and tender mercies. 6 Both great and

^ Heb. deaths of sicknesses.

2. Thou shalt not take thee a wife. Jeremiah's conduct would
mark him out as a standing witness to the Jews (see Introd. p. xlii),
though for one who was, as Cornill says, ' the friend of the children
and who saw in the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride the
type of the purest and deepest joy,' it would be none the less difficult
to abstain from marriage. Cf. the advice of St Paul in 1 Cor. vii. 25 ff.;
notice especially v. 29 ' the time is short ' ; the prophet had in view
temporary distress, the apostle the end of all things.

in this place. Cf. vii. 3.

4. grievous deaths. Heb. deaths of sicknesses. For a state of
affairs similar to that described here, cf. vii. 33, xxii. 18 f.; Ps. Ixxix.
2, &c. ^ and for the use of the Aramaic word see footnote to xiv. 18.

5 — 9. The prophet is forbidden to shew his sympathy with either
mourning or rejoicing : both alike will soon be forgotten in the troubles
which are coming upon the nation.

5. mourning. Lit. shrill crying: cf Am. vi. 7. Driver quotes

Mk. V. 38 a.Xa\dt,oi'Tas TroWd.

peace. Contrast Ps. Ixxxv. 8 ' he will speak peace unto his people.'
lovingkindness &c. The Lord has withdrawn the marks of His

interest in His people, and so Jeremiah as the Divine representative

must not shew himself at such ceremonies.

6. Death is to come upon them at a time of such disturbance that
the rites owing to the dead by the living will be neglected. The various
signs of mourning here mentioned are forbidden by Dt. xiv. 1 and

1 Cf . the description of the effects of the plague at Athens in the second year
of the Peloponnesian War : ' The bodies of dying men lay one upon another, and
half-dead creatures reeled about the streets :... men ...became utterly careless of
everything whether sacred or profane. All the burial rites before in use were
entirely upset, and they buried the bodies as beat they could.' Thucydides, Bk. ii.
ch. vii.

XVI. 6-io] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 135

small shall die in this land : they shall not be buried, neither shall
men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves
bald for them: 7 neither shall men ^ break bread for them in
mourning, to comfort them for the dead ; neither shall men give
them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their
mother. 8 And thou shalt not go into the house of feasting to sit
with them, to eat and to drink. 9 For thus saith the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel : Behold, I will cause to cease out of this
place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and
the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice
of the bride. 10 And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt
shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee,

1 See Is. Iviii. 7.

Lev. xix. 28, xxi. 5 ; similar practices were forbidden by Muhammed,
but in neither case do the prohibitions seem to have been observed.

cut themselves. Probably as a mark of ' enduring affection ' as
among the Australian bushmen of the present day. The custom was
found among the Greeks and other ancient peoples : cf. W. Robertson
Smith, Rel. Sem.^ pp. 322 f.; Frazer, The Dying God, pp. 92 f., Folk-
Zw-em O.r. pp. 273ff.

make themselves bald. This also was an ancient custom found
amongst the Greeks (cf. Aesch. Choephorae, 167 f; Eurip. Alcestis,
429, &c.) and other nations (cf. Herod, ii. 36 and ix. 24, of the Persians;
and IV. 71, of the Scythians). The Hebrews shaved the front of the
head only (see W. Robertson Smith, op. cit. p. 324) and it is not stated
that the hair was laid on the tomb as was the case with the Arabs
(see H. P. Smith, Itel. oflsr. p. 27 ; Goldziher, Muhammedan. Studien,
I. p. 248; and Jaussen, Coutumes des Arabes, p. 94).

7. break bread for them. Probably at a funeral feast which was
originally perhaps a communion with the dead (see W. Robertson Smith,
op. cit. p. 322, Note 3, and Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii. pp. 26 ff.) : cf.
' Hos. ix. 4; Is. viii. 19 ; Ecclus. vii. 23 and Tob. iv. 17,

cup of consolation. Cf. Prov. xxxi. 6 f A somewhat similar custom
still exists amongst the Arabs who slaughter ' a sheep at the death of
a member of the tribe, and another seven days later. This latter is
called the sacrifice of consolation.' (H. P. Smith, op. cit. p. 27.)

8 f. These vv. are an elaboration of xv. 15 — 18.

9. All the common festivals and simple ceremonies of everyday
life are to be brought to an end as in Hos. ii. 11,

10 — 13. The people will profess surprise at the hard message of
the prophet : the answer which he is bidden to give them. The whole
section is Deuteronomic in style and teaching, and so is the method of
providing a ready answer for a possible enquiry.

136 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xvi. lo-t

Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this great evil against
us? or what is our iniquity? or Avhat is our sin that we have
committed against the Lord our God ? 11 then shalt thou say
unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the
Lord, and have walked after other gods, and hav© served them,
and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not
kept my law; 12 and ye have done evil more than your fathers;
for, behold, ye walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil
heart, so that ye hearken not unto me : 13 therefore will I cast
you forth out of this land into the land that ye have not known,
neither ye nor your fathers ; and there shall ye serve other gods
day and night; ^for I will shew you no favour.

14 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it
shall no more be said. As the Lord liveth, that brought up the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; 15 but. As the Lord
liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of
the north, and from all the countries whither he had driven them:
and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their
fathers. 16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord,

^ Or, ichere

10. Wherefore. The people apparently claim to have had no
previous warnings and are full of virtuous indignation at the sudden
onslaught upon their habits of worship.

13. cast you forth. Cf. Zech. vii. 14 'by a whirlwind.'

other gods. The change of country would be followed by a change
of the objects of worship.

dai/ and night. The reverse order night and day is often used as
the Jews began their reckoning from sunset, so also did the Athenians
(PHny, Hist. Nat. ii. 79). In NT. St John always adopts the order day
and night, whilst St Paul invariably speaks of tiight and day.

rw favour. Favour in Heb. is chaninah, which suggested one of
the names of the later Jews for the Messiah; 'The Gracious One' as
we might say. (Cf Edersheim, Life and Times &c. i. 155 n.)

14 f. These vv. recur in xxiii. 7 f, where they appear to be original.

16 — 18. The great sin of Judah will bring upon it a complete and
terrible punishment.

16. Neither the depths of the sea nor the heights of the mountains
will serve as a refuge from the fury of the Lord. The fishers will
' net ' the inhabitants, while the hunters track down the few who have
escaped from the cities.

fishers. Cf. a similar use of the metaphor in Am. iv. 2 ; Hab. i. 15 ;
Ea. xii. 13, xxix. 4, 8 and also in Herod, iii. 149, iv. 9, vi. 31 {aay-qv^vtiv).

XVI. i6-2i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 137

and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many
hunters, and they vshall hunt them fi-om every mountain, and from
every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. 17 For mine eyes
are upon all their ways : they are not hid from my face, neither
is their iniquity concealed fi'om mine eyes. 18 And first I will
recompense their iniquity and their sin double; ^because they
have polluted my land with the carcases of their detestable
things, and have filled mine inheritance with their abominations.

19 0 Lord, my strength, and my strong hold, and my refuge in
the day of affliction, unto thee shall the nations come from the
ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited nought
but lies, even vanity and things wherein there is no profit.

20 Shall a man make unto himself gods, which yet are no gods?

21 Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once will
I cause them to know mine hand and my might ; and they shall
know that my name is Jehovah.

1 Or, because they have polluted my land: they have filled mine inheritance with
the carcases of their detestable things and their abominations

The metaphor is used by our Blessed Lord with a gracious reversal of
application (cf. Mk. i. 17, &c.)\

17. Cf. Am. ix. 8; Job xxxiv. 21; Prov. v. 21, xv. 3.

18. double. Cf. Is. xl. 2 for the fulfilment of the threat. Double
means ample, the idea that God's punishment has been too great
cannot as Skinner says 'be pressed theologically.'

carcases of their detestable things. The idols whom the people
worshipped are merely so much carrion.

19 — 21. The heathen will one day recognise the folly of their
fathers and turn to the service of Jehovah, a thought which is common
in the later half of Isaiah.

19. vanity, 'denotes figuratively what is evanescent, unsubstantial,
worthless.' Driver.

20. The god which a man makes for himself has no more power
than its maker.

21. A single exhibition of Jehovah's great power will convince the
nations of His unique position amongst the gods. The connexion with
the previous vv, is awkward owing to the sudden introduction of God as
the speaker. The v. is in the manner of the second Is. and reads like
an exilic promise of restoration.

1 Cf. Clem. Alex. hymn, in Chr. where our Lord Himself is the fisher (quoted
in Dr Swete's commentary on St Mark).

138 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xvii. i, .

XVII. 1 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron,
and with the point of a diamond : it is graven upon the table of
their heart, and upon the horns of ^your altars; 2 whilst their
children remember their altars and their ^Asherim by the green

^ Another reading is, their. ^ See Ex. xxxiv. 13.

XVII. 1 — 4. Judah's sin is so deeply engraven that it is im-
possible to pass it over.

These m. are omitted from lxx. perhaps, as Cornill thinks, be-
cause the translator's eye wandered from nin^ in xvi. 21 to niH"' in
xvii. 5. _ St Jerome suggests that the Greek translators omitted the
passage in order not to hand down to posterity words of such strong
condemnation \ It is possible that this suggestion gives the correct
reason for the omission, though strictly speaking it applies to w. 1 f
only.

l._ pen of iron. Cf. Job xix. 24 (of graving in the hard rock).

diamond. The diamond was probably unknown to the ancient
Hebrews (cf Enc. Bib. 63 and 1097) as it was to the Greeks before
the time of Alexander; probably the hard mineral corundum is meant,
it is still used for polishing steel and cutting gems. The same Heb.
word is used in Ez. iii. 9 for the firmness of the prophet and in Zech. vii.
12 as a figure for a hard heart.

table of their heart. The phrase recurs in Prov. iii. 3, vii. 3, the
word for table is that used of the tablet on which the Decalogue was
written.

2 f The text is almost certainly corrupt as it stands or at any rate
it has been glossed. Duhm and Cornill following the Syriac version
omit whilst their... Asherim. Driver renders m. 1 — 3a as follows:

' The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron,
With the point of a diamond is it graven

Upon the table of their heart,
Upon the horns of their altars, upon every spreading tree.
Upon the high hills, the mountains in the field.'

Keil, following the Rabbinic commentators, takes children as the object
and translates D when by as : as {they) think of their children, (so they
think of) their altars.

Asherim. These were wooden posts in all probability worshipped
as representing sacred trees I Such posts would form part of the fur-
niture of the Canaanite shrines which were taken over by the Israelites.

^ ' Ne scilicet aeterna in eos sententia permaneret ' (quoted by Dr Streane,
The Double Text &c. p. 150).

^ The Mishuah strangely enough looks upon Asheras as actual trees: cf. Aboda
Zara, in. 7 f. and the notes in the edition by W. A. L. Elmslie in Texts and
Studies. Q. P. Moore doubts the connexion of the Ashera with a living tree :
Enc. Bib. 331.

XVII. .-5] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 139

trees upon the high hills. 3 O ray mountain in the field, I will
give thy substance and all thy treasures for a spoil, and thy high
places, because of sin, throughout all thy borders. 4 And thou,
even of thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave
thee ; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land
which thou knowest not : for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger
which shall burn for ever.

5 Thus saith the Lord : Cursed is the man that trusteth
in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth

The reformation under Josiah had abolished the high places, and yet
so strong was the attraction of the sacred spots that the hearts of the
men of Judah still yearned towards them. In the same way some of
the earliest followers of Muhammed asked the prophet to appoint them
certain sacred trees (quoted by Cheyne, Life and Times &c. p. 103),
and even Christianity itself was unable to eradicate the tendency to
tree-worship of some of the Syrians (see W. Robertson Smith, Bel.

3. mountain in the field. Cf. xiii. 27 'hills in the field,' and
xxi. 13 'rock of the plain'; also Is. ii. 3 'mountain of the Lord.'
Evidently Jerusalem is meant, though the figure is an awkward one
(see further on xxi. 13), and perhaps the words are best attached to
the previous v. as Driver suggests (see above).

4. of thyself . Heb. "|3"i should probably be read "JT" as suggested
by J. D. Michaelis : the v. will then run and thou shalt withdraw thine
hand from thine heritage &c. (cf. Dt. xv. 3).

5 f. In this section Jeremiah goes to the very root of Judah's
failure and shews the cause of her continual sin. Though the worship
of God was still carried on and His name was constantly on the lips of
the people yet any real trust or belief in Him had long departed from
among them. The men of Jerusalem were so convinced of their own
skill and cleverness that they ignored the need of Divine aid, and like
' the drunkards of Ephraim ' they might have said ' we have made a
covenant with death and with hell are we at agreement ' (Is. xxviii. 1,

5. This V. is used in the Commination Service.

ttie man. Cornill sees in the passage a reference to Zedekiah in
person.

flesh his arm. 'Judah sought man's help, not only apart from
God, but against God. God was bringing them down, and they, by
man's aid, would lift themselves up.' Pusey on Hos. v. 13.

^ Cf. the letter of Gregory the Great to the Bishop of Terracina ordering him
to puuish certain tree-worshippers (Greg. Reg. Ep. viii. 19 ; quoted by Ed. Spearing
in The Patrimony of the Roman Church, p. 12).

140 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xvk 5-9

from the Lord, 6 For he shall be like Hhe heath in the desert,
and shall not see when good cometh ; but shall inhabit the parched
places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited. 7 Blessed
is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose ^hope the Lord
is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that
spreadeth out his roots by the river, and shall not ^fear when
heat cometh, but his leaf shall be green ; and shall not be careful
in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is desperately

^ Or, a tamarisk ^ Heb. trust. ^ According to another reading, see.

from the Lord. Whatever a man trusts in becomes his god, whether
it be the net of the poor fisherman described in Habakkuk (i. 1 6), or
the armies of great powers like Egypt (as here) or Assyria (Is. x.

6, the heath. The reference is to the juniper tree (of Tristram,
Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 358) which is a symbol of desolation owing
to its being cropped by the wild goats.

a salt land and not inhabited. Cf. Dt. xxix. 23 ; Ps. cvii. 34.
The imagery is suggested by the land round the Dead Sea (cf. Zeph.
ii. 9), which has been well described by a recent traveller as follows :
' Before us lay a sheet of hard mud on which no green thing grows.
It is of a yellow colour, blotched with a venomous grey-white salt :
almost unconsciously the eye appreciates its enmity to life ' (G. Low-
thian Bell, The Desert and the Sown, p. 12).

7 f . In strong contrast with the man who relies on mere human
aid is the true worshipper of God. The prophet describes him in
language very like that of Ps. i. 3 f ^ as having a constant supply
of nourishment and refreshment even in the time of heat and drought.

8. planted. Better perhaps transplanted, the word is always used
with some reference to the choice of situation.

in the year of drought. The righteous man abides in God and can
safely endure the misfortunes of life ; the evil man, on the contrary, is
in distress even in the time of plenty and is liable to sudden destruction
(cf. Prov. xi. 28 ; Ez. xvii. 5—10).

yielding fruit. Like 'the tree of life' in Rev. xxii. 2. . ,

9 — 11. The heart of man is no sure ground of confidence, nor
will anyone but a fool place reliance on riches acquired by unlawful
means. .

9. No man ever knows fully his neighbour's thoughts and i»otives,
nor whether he will remain faithful to his engagements. _•

1 That there is a close connexion between the two passages is genatally ad-
mitted, but commentators are not agreed as to which is the original. Kirkpatrick
in Camh. Bib. says that Jeremiah paraphrases and expands the passage from
the Ps. ; on the other hand Briggs in Int. Grit. Covim. says that the v. is based
on Jer. xvii. 5 — 8 and Ez. xlvii. 12.

XVII. 9-13] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 141

sick: who can know it? 10 I the Lord search the heart, I try
the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, according
to the fruit of his doings. 11 As the partridge Hhat gathereth
young which she hath not brought forth, so is he that getteth
riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days ^they shall
leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool.

12 A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the
place of our sanctuary. 13 0 Lord, the hope of Israel, all that
forsake thee shall be ashamed ; they that depart from me shall
be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord,

1 Or, sitteth on eggs which she hath not laid - Or, he shall leave them

deceitful. Buttenwieser (Prophets, p. 106) suggests the translation
intricate and compares Is. xl. 4 ; and Ecchis. xx. 6.

10. God alone can search the hearts of men and reward them accord-
ing to their merits. If this v. is in its proper context the meaning must
be that God who is ' greater than our hearts ' and who alone can know
them is a safer ground of confidence than they are.

/ the Lord search. The attributes of God here set out are applied
to our Blessed Lord in the letter to the church of Thyatira (Rev. ii. 23 ;
cf. also Jn. ii. 25; Acts i. 24, xv. 8; Rom. viii. 27; Ps. vii. 10).

11. This V. reads like an extract from the book of Proverbs and
seems hardly in a suitable context here.

partridge. The partridge is the most common game-bird in
Palestine, though it is only referred to three times in OT. (here ;
1 S. xxvi. 20 ; and Ecclus. xi. 30). The partridge lays so many eggs
that she was popularly thought to steal eggs from other birds. The
meaning of the figure is plain, though the application of it is difficult:
wealth is compared to the young birds who soon desert their foster-
mother (following mg.) ; or as Driver, who proposes the rendering
that heapeth together eggs, hut doth not bring forth young, suggests
'with allusion to the large number of eggs laid... which are eagerly
sought for by the Arabs as food, so that the bird often hatches no
young.' ... * .

12 f A description, in the manner of the Psalms, of the enduring
might of God.

12. on high. Cf Is. vi. 1.

13. written in the earth. Cf the expression 'written on the sand,'
a figure for that which is unenduring, and also the epitaph on Keats'
tomb, chosen by the poet himself to represent the shortness of his life,
'Here lies one whose name was writ in water.' The opposite of this
phrase is used in Lk. x. 20 'your names are written in heaven.' The
Heb. word for earth hardly means 'ground ' or 'soil ' and so the phrase
is difficult; perhaps Giesebrecht's emendation ims* they shall be cut off
for nriD'' they shall be written gives the best solution of the difficulty.

142 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xvii. 13-18

the fountain of living waters. 14 Heal me, 0 Lord, and I shall
be .healed ; save me, and I shall be saved : for thou art my praise.
15 Behold, they say unto me, Wh^re is the word of the Lord?
let it come now, 16 As for me, I have not hastened from being
a shepherd after thee; neither have I desired Hhe woeful day;
thou knowest : that which came out of my lips was before thy
face. 17 Be not a terror unto me: thou art my refuge in the
day of evil. 18 Let them be ashamed that persecute me, but
let not me be ashamed ; let them be dismayed, but let not me be

^ Some ancient versions read, the judgement day of man.

14 — 18. The prophet is in deep distress because of the reproaches
of his countrymen, evidently they accuse him of delighting in con-
demnations and forecasts of woe. In the anguish of his soul he turns
to his only source of comfort, and cries out to God for strength and
courage. With pathetic entreaty he prays God to be not a terror to
him, such as were his familiar friends (xx. 10) ; nor to send him forth
once more with a message of reproof; but to be a refuge and a shelter
to hide in.

15. These words must have been written before the approach of the
Babylonian armies, and certainly before the first fall of Jerusalem. If
the earlier chh. of Jeremiah refer to the Scythian invasion, whose
terrors passed harmlessly by the men of Jerusalem, this v. may be a
taunt over their non-fulfilment. Such mistakes in detail do not
discredit the prophets, who, after all, are dealing with great principles
which are bound to fulfil themselves sooner or later, though the time
may be more distant than the prophet himself imagines (c£ W.
Robertson Smith, Prophets^ pp. 268 f ; Buttenwieser, op. cit. p. 153).

Where, This is a not unusual way of beginning a taunt in both
OT. and NT., e.g. Ps. xlii. 3 'where is now thy God?' 2 Pet. iii. 4
' where is the promise of his coming V

16. from being a shepherd. These words are represented by one
word only in the Heb., and this word can be read, without any change
in the consonantal text, because of the evil, the translation adopted by
Aq. and Symm. The meaning would then be in the words of Dr Streane,
who approves of the alteration, 'I have not pursued thee with persistent
supplication to bring calamity upon my foes.' The meaning of the
V. as it stands in RV., however, is quite consistent and hardly needs
' much improvement to the parallelism ' ; Jeremiah did not refuse to
bear God's message and to act as a prophet, but on the other hand, he
certainly did not desire the woeful day. The title shepherd is nowhere
else applied to a prophet, though it is used of one entrusted with the
care of a nation.

XVII. i8] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 143

dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and Mestroy them
with double destruction.

1 Heb. break them with a double breach.

18. double destruction. Rothstein in order to make this reading
possible emends the Heb. and reads the construct stated Is it not
possible to take i^.?^P as an accusative of time and to translate destrcy
them ivith a second destruction ? According to Buttenwieser who puts
forward the above suggestion {op. cit. 110 f.), the first destruction which
the prophet has in mind is the fall of Samaria. If double is retained
it may mean complete (cf xvi. 18 and note there) ; it can hardly refer,
as some commentators used to think, to a punishment which will be
effective in this life and also in that which is to come.

Chapter XVII. 19—27.
The Sabbath is to be hallowed by the Cessation of all Labour.

The genuineness of this section has been denied by the majority of critics
mainly on two grounds, \iz. : that (1) it bears signs of belonging to a later date;
and (2) the attitude towards ceremonies is inconsistent with Jeremiah's usual
teaching.

(1) Jeremiah does not elsewhere refer to the Sabbath, and indeed the pre-
exilic prophets had apparently little interest in it except as a day of rest for
the common people (cf. Am. viii. 5). It was during the exile that the importance
of the Sabbath as a mark of the religion of Jehovah first came to be realised ;
when the Jews, cut off as they were from the temple, had a hard struggle to
preserve their national and religious life in the midst of heathen institutions
(Ez. XX. 12). As Peake remarks 'the detachment of the Jews from sacred places
by the exile gave a wholly new value to sacred times.' In this passage such
stress is laid on the keeping of the Sabbath that the very existence of the State
is made to depend upon it. Such an attitude seems to be post-exilic and to
reflect the situation of Haggai and Zechariah, especially as v. 25 seems to imply
that at the time when it was written no king sat on the throne of David, and
V. 26 tacitly excludes Samaria from those offering worship at Jerusalem. Most
critics, for these reasons, connect the section mth such a passage as Neh.
xiii. 15—22 (so Kuenen, Einleitung, ii. 167 ff.; Duhm ; Cornill &c.), and indeed
some find traces in it of actual dependence on that passage (Siegfried, Ezra,
Neh. u. Esth. on Neh. xiii. 15; and Buttenwieser, op. cit. 49 ff.).

(2) In this section not only is stress laid on the importance of keeping the
Sabbath holy, but in v. 26 there is also a high regard expressed for incense and
sacrifices. This seems at first sight quite inconsistent with Jeremiah's usual

i njK^D for njw'o.

144 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xvii.

19—21

teaching. It should, however, be remembered that the Sabbath was an ancient
custom and that it had not only a ritual but also a humanitarian significance ;
and also it is quite possible that in the prophet's mind the ideal future would
be a time when worthy sacrifices might be off"ered out of pure and sincere
hearts (cf. Driver, LOT? p. 258). A similar sentiment seems to have moved
some later writer to add vi\ 18f. to Ps. li. (cf. vo. 16 f.).

In conclusion it must be admitted that the passage bears resemblances,
possibly due to imitation, to the style of Jeremiah, and that it may belong, as
Orelli thinks, to the early years of his ministry (it is certainly out of its context
here) ; but on the whole the point of view displayed in it is post-exilic and
closely akin to that of Nehemiah.

In considering the question of Sabbath observance, especially in the present
day, the two aspects of the institution should both be borne in mind. The
Sabbath has a religious and a social aspect ; in other words, it is to be regarded
as the day upon which special worship is offered to Almighty God, and as the
day on which men deny themselves in order that their neighbours may also
have an opportunity for rest and worship, ' The enemies of the sabbath are the
enemies of the poor.' The late Edward Kingj Bishop of Lincoln, in one of
his pastoral letters recommended three names to be used for Sunday. (1) The
Lordls Day. 'The day for special worship in every best way we can ; the day
for the special Christian service, the Eucharist.' (2) The Day of Rest. 'We
should rest from our bodily labours that our minds and hearts may have leisure
to learn more of God.' (3) The Home Day. ' All the members of the family
are at home on Sunday ; it is a day for cultivating Brotherly Love ; a day for
rekindling the love in our own households.'

19 Thus said the Lord unto me: Go, and stand in the gate
of Hhe children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come
in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem;
20 and say unto them, Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings
of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
that enter in by these gates ; 21 thus saith the Lord: Take heed
^to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring

1 Or, the common people See eh. xxvi. 23. ^ Or, for your life's sake

19. gate of the children of the people. As the gate is also used by
the kings in some peculiar way the expression is difficult, and no satis-
factory suggestion lias been made as to its locality or special use.

20. kings. Again no satisfactory explanation has been offered for
the plural, though it is possible that it is a scribal error perhaps due to
the influence of v. 25 (cf. xxii. 2).

21. burden. In the passage Neh. xiii. 15 — 21 the word burden
seems to refer to merchandise and possibly the same reference is
to be supposed here, in which case Sunday trading is especially con-
demned.

xvii. 21-27] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 145

it in by the gates of Jerusalem ; 22 neither carry forth a burden
out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work:
but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers ;
23 but they hearkened not, neither inclined their ear, but made
their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive
instruction. 24 And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken
unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates
of this city on the sabbath day, but to hallow the sabbath day,
to do no work therein ; 25 then shall there enter in by the gates
of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David,
riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men
of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem : and this city shall
h'emain for ever. 26 And they shall come from the cities of
Judah, and from the places round about Jerusalem, and from
the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the moun-
tains, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices,
and ^oblations, and frankincense, and bringing scicrijices of
thanksgiving, unto the house of the Lord. 27 But if ye will not
hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a
burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath
day ; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall
devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

1 Or, be inhabited - Or, meal offerings

22. out of your houses. This law was avoided by the later Jews by
merging ' several private precincts into one ' by which means food or
vessels would not be moved out of the houses, and so could be carried
to any distance (see Herford's note in Oxford Apoc. 11. p. 827).

25. and princes. Evidently an insertion (cf. their j^rinces) and so to
be omitted.

26. The restored kingdom is evidently to be limited to the tribes
of Judah and Benjamin, i.e. Samaria is not included in it. This seems
to reflect a post-exilic standpoint and is as much opposed to the
usual teaching of Jeremiah (cf. iii. 11 ff., xxiii. 6, &c.) as is the value
attached to incense.

lowland... mountains... the South. Every part of Judah is to be
represented, the Shephelah (including the foothills on the Philistine
border), the hill country round Jerusalem, and the Negeb or land to
the South (cf. Josh. xv. 21 — 60 where the same districts are referred to
but in different order).

27. will I kindle... palaces. This expression is borrowed from Am.
i. 4, &c. (where see E. A. Edghill's note) and is used frequently by

B- 10

146 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xviii. i, 2

Jeremiah (cf. xxi. 14, xlix. 27, 1. 32, also xliii. 12) and by other
prophets (Hos. viii. 14; Ez. xx. 47).

Chapter XVHL
The Visit to the Potters House and what came of it.

Chh. xviii. — xx. all deal with subjects connected with the potter's art, hence
probably their being placed together in the collection of Jeremiah's prophecies.
The earlier vv. of ch. xviii. have met with much criticism — Duhm rejects every-
thing up to V. 12 as too trivial, and Cornill rejects w. 5 — 12 as an insertion
which misses the point of the story. It is quite true that the teaching of
vv. 7 — 12 is not in agreement with that of ». 4 ; the former »». imply that God
will reject His agents entirely if they fail, whereas the meaning of the original
figure is that God's plans cannot be baffled by the failure of His agents, they
can be remoulded and, as it were, given a fresh start.

(a) Jeremiah is commanded to go down to the potter's house. 1 — 4.

(6) God^s dealings with the nations. 5 — 12.

(c) JudaK's horrible crime shall receive a punishment of horror.

13—17.
{d) The people^ s plot and the prophet's prayer. 18 — 23.

XVIII. 1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord,
saying, 2 Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I

XVIII. 1 — 4. God commands the prophet to go down to the house
of the potter. This section is interesting as furnishing what is perhaps
the first recorded instance of the use of a symbol found in many lan-
guages and literatures \ For other instances of its use in biblical and
cognate literature in addition to those referred to below, see Is. xlv. 9,
Ixiv. 8; Wisd. xv. 7; Ecclus. xxxiii. 13; also Test. xii. Patriarchs,
Napht. ii. 2 — 4. For non-biblical uses cf the saying of Heraclitus ' the
clay out of which things are made is for ever being moulded into new
forms' (TiO^QY, Pre-Soc. Phil.ii.^. 17); Omar Khayyam, ^Mia23/a^xxxvi.,
Liii., Lix. ff. ; and in our own day Browning's Rabhi Ben Ezra, xxv. —

XXXII.

2. the potter s house. Probably some well known place where Jeremiah
had often watched the potter at work (though Hebrew idiom does not
demand this). The potters of Judah formed a guild (1 Ch. iv. 23) and
probably occupied a quarter of their own, perhaps on the lower slopes
of Hinnom (cf. go down).

1 Is. xxix. 16 is possibly earlier but its genuineness is questionable. The
Egyptians also believed that the god Khnoumou moulded gods and men on a
potter's wheel: cf. J. G. Frazer, Magic Art, n. p. 132.

xviii. 2-8] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 147

will cause thee to hear my words. 3 Then I went down to the
potter's house, and, behold, he wrought his work on the wheels.
4 And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in
the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed
good to the potter to make it.

5 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 6 0 house
of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord.
Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand,
0 house of Israel. 7 At what instant I shall speak concerning
a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break
down and to destroy it ; 8 if that nation, concerning which I

3. ths wheels. The potter made use of two wheels, the smaller resting
on the larger, which was driven by the feet of the potter (Ecclus. xxxviii.
29 f ). For a full description see Em. Bib. 3820 and Thomson, The
Land and the Book, pp. 520 f.

4. the clay was marred &c. The potter is not dependent on his
material but can mould it according to his own ideas, and he is free to
change his plans for any particular portion of it during the process of
manufacture. Jeremiah's use of the symbol of the potter's clay is quite
different from that of St Paul in Rom. ix. — xi., where the Apostle uses
it to shew man's powerlessness in God's hands and the Creator's absolute
right over His creatures. This interpretation of the figure, which may
be called the pessimistic interpretation, has made the deeper impression
on men's minds, but it is not the one which is uppermost in the mind
of Jeremiah : his interpretation of the symbol is on the contrary opti-
mistic, God can remould His creatures if they fail and does not need
to cast them utterly away.

5 — 12. Just as the potter re-moulds his material when it proves
unsuitable for a particular vessel, so God deals with the nations. In w.
11 f the general principle is applied to the specific case of Judah (cf
Am. ii. 6 ff.).

7 if. God's threats, like His promises, are conditional. If the nation
continues in its sin then will the efi'ects of His anger fall upon it; if
however it accepts His warning then it will be spared. God's unlimited
power, as Keil says, ' is exercised according to man's conduct, not ac-
cording to a decretum absolutum or unchangeable determination.' This
passage contains no application to individuals (contrast Ez. xviii. 21 ff.,
xxxiii. 12 fi.) and no thought of predestination in the popular sense, for
vv. 8 f shew that Jeremiah is not thinking of men's hearts but of their
external circumstances.

7. a nation. The statement of the principles which regulate God's
dealings with nations is quite general and 'perhaps implies that the
prophet hoped his teaching might bear fruit beyond the border of Israel
proper.' Kennett, Servt. of the Lord, p. 24.

10—2

148 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xviii. 8-14

have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that
I thought to do unto them. 9 And at what instant I shall speak
concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to
plant it; 10 if it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice,
then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit
them. 11 Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying. Thus saith the Lord:
Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against
you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and amend
your ways and your doings. 12 But they say, There is no hope :
for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do every
one after the stubbornness of his evil heart.

13 Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ask ye now among the
nations, who hath heard such things ; the virgin of Israel hath
done a very horrible thing. 14 Shall the snow of Lebanon fail
from the rock of the field ? or shall the cold waters ^ that flow

^ Or, of strange lands that flow doivn he d'c.

8. / will repent. ' The necessities of human thought require that
sometimes, through man's failure or cliange, God, who is unchangeable,
should be said to repent. The temporary interruption of the accomplish-
ment of His counsel of love must appear in this light under the con-
ditions of time to tliose "who see but part.'" Westcott on Heb. vii. 21.
Cheyne rejects vv. 5 — 10 on the ground that Jeremiah was quite certain
of the destruction of Jerusalem, Enc. Bib. 3878.

11. frame. The Heb. word ior jMtter is derived from this verb.

12. The people are self-condemned; cf. Is. xxviii. 15, xxx. 10 f.
13 — 17. Judah's horrible crime will soon be followed by a punish-
ment of equal horror.

13. Ask ye... among the tmt'ions. Cf. ii. 10 f., v. 30; and 1 Cor.
v. 1.

virgin. The use of this term in its present context adds to the
horror of the description.

14. rock of the field. The meaning of this phrase is obscure; in
xvii. 3 Jerusalem is apparently called ' my mountain in the field ' (cf.
xxi. 13), but such an interpretation would throw no light on the present
context. Various attempts have accordingly been made to find an ex-
planation by means of emendations. (1) Giesebrecht suggests that scideh
(field) should be pointed Shaddai (Almighty); (2) Duhm would emend
so as to read Sirion (the Phoenician name for Mt Hermon, cf. Dt. iii. 9;
Ps. xxix. 6)^ and he translates 'Does the hoar frost leave Sirion, the

1 It is interesting in view of Duhm's suggestion to notice that the Arabs call
Hermon Towil eth-Thalj ' the height of snow.'

xviiL 14-18] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 149

down from afar be Mried up? 15 For my people hath forgotten
me, they have burned incense to vanity ; and they have caused
them to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in
bypaths, in a way not cast up; 16 to make their land an as-
tonishment, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth
thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head. 17 1 will scatter
them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will ^look upon
their back, and not their face, in the day of their calamity.

18 Then said they. Come, and let us devise devices against

' Or, plucked tip 2 Qr, shew them the back, and not the face

snow Lebanon V ; (3) Cornill's suggestion is very similar to the last, he
would read (substituting white for Lebanon, the root meaning of which
is white) 'Does the white snow melt away from the rock of Sirion?' In
support of this suggestion it has been pointed out that Lebanon, unlike
Hermon, does not retain its snow throughout the summer.

cold waters .. .dried up. The second half of the v. is equally obscure
and certainly requires some emendation even if it be only the slight
one adopted by RV., i.e. the transposition of one letter in order to read
dried up for plucked up (mg.) which term can hardly be applied to waters.
The Heb. translated literally then reads shall the strange, cold, Jlowing
waters be dried' up. Strange should probably be omitted as an accidental
repetition of cold (the words are very similar in the original) though
Duhm by a rather elaborate and ingenious emendation retains it. He,
however, divides up the Heb. consonants differently and reads waters
of the scatterers instead of strange waters. By a reference to an obscure
passage in Job xxxvii. 9 he explains the scatterers as the rainbringing
Northern stars. This explanation seems much too involved and it is
perhaps best to adopt Rothstein's suggestion and read are the cold flowing
waters of the hills dried up? The meaning is quite clear in spite of the
apparent corruption of the text : the waters of Lebanon are constant
(cf. Cant. iv. 15) but the conduct of Judah is fickle and unnatural; cf
viii. 7 where the birds who obey their instincts are contrasted with the
disobedience of Judah.

15. For. This may continue v. 13 or on the other hand it may
draw out a different thought from v. 14 : Judah's faithlessness is the
cause of her coming punishment, she has given up God and so will become
like a stream separated from its source (cf ii. 13).

ancient paths. Cf. vi. 16. The difficulties of travel in ancient times
are well illustrated by passages such as these.

16. hissing. A sound expressing not contempt but surprise; cf
Jud. V. 16.

17. east wind. For a description of this wind see Enc. Bib. 5304 f
and Driver on Am. iv. 9.

18—23. The people form a plot against Jeremiah, who gives himself

150 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xviii. 18-23

Jeremiah ; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel
from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let
us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any
of his words.

19 Give heed to me, 0 Lord, and hearken to the voice of
them that contend with me. 20 Shall evil be recompensed for
good ? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember how
I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy
fury from them. 21 Therefore deliver up their children to the
famine, and give them over to the power of the sword ; and let
their wives become childless, and widows ; and let their men be
slain of death, and their young men smitten of the sword in
battle. 22 Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt
bring a troop suddenly upon them : for they have digged a pit
to take me, and hid snares for my feet. 23 Yet, Lord, thou
knowest all their counsel against me to slay me; forgive not
their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight : but let

up to prayer (cf. xi. 18 — 23, xii. 1 — 6, xv. 10 f., 15 — 21). There is no
clue to the date of this passage which appears here as a fragment; it
probably comes from a time after .Jeremiah's attack on the temple.

18. Note the three classes of recognised teachers, the priest who
gave answers to enquirers by means of the sacred lot, or by the traditions
of his sanctuary ; the wise man who gave advice to tliose who consulted
him; the prophet to whom the message of the Lord came in order that
he might deliver it to the people : cf. viii. 8 ; Ez. vii. 26. If God really
turned His back on the nation, as Jeremiah foretold, these three sources
of counsel would be dried up.

19. Jeremiah brings himself and his adversaries before God's tri-
bunal.

20. Jeremiah brings to God's recollection his own prayers on the
nation's behalf and in the bitterness of his soul repents that they were
ever made.

stood. The usual attitude for prayer, cf xv. 1 ; Neh. ix. 4, &c.,
though at times of special urgency kneeling was resorted to (1 K. viii.
54; Ezra ix. 5; Dan. vi. 10, &c.).

21 — 23. These vv. are in such strong contrast to Jeremiah's habitual
attitude towards the people of Judah that many critics look upon them
as a later addition.

21. The expression of the desire for vengeance upon the wife and
family of the offender is very similar to Ps. cix. 9 ff.

22. a troop suddenly. The punishment is evidently to be caused
by raiders rather than by a regular invasion.

digged a pit &c. As in Ps. Ivii. 6.

XVIII. 23-xix. 3] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 151

them be ^overthrown before thee; deal thou with them in the
time of thine anger.

1 Heb. made to stumble.

Chapters XIX.— XX. 6.
The Symbol of the Brohen Vessel.

The connexion between this section and ch. xviii. is probably literary rather
than chronological. The account evidently refers to a time when Babylon had
become prominent (xx. 4), and should therefore be dated sometime after the
Battle of Carchemish which took place in the third year of the reign of
Jehoiakim, 605 B.C. Duhm considers the whole passage to be late, but there are
no reasonable grounds for such a sweeping treatment though there can be little
doubt that later insertions have been included, e.g. xix. 3 — 9.

{a) The prophet's instructions. 1 f.

(6) T?ie prophets message. 3 — 9.

(c) The symbolical action. 10—13.

{d) The vengeance of the authorities. 14 — xx. 6.

XIX. 1 Thus said the Lord, Go, and buy a potter's earthen
bottle, and take of the elders of the people, and of the elders of
the priests ; 2 and go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom,
which is by the entry of Hhe gate Harsith, and proclaim there
the words that I shall tell thee : 3 and say, Hear ye the word of

1 Or, the gate of potsherds

XIX. 1 f. .Jeremiah is bidden to go to the valley of Hinnom
carrying with him an earthen vessel and accompanied by some of the
elders : he will there receive God's message.

1. elders of the priests. Cf. 2 K. xix. 2. The command does not
aDow of any hesitation or refusal on the part of the elders, Jeremiah
evidently still had great influence and was recognised as God's spokes-
man.

2. valley... of Hinnom. See on vii. 31.

the gate Harsith. Better with mg. the gate of potsherds, perhaps
from the broken vessels lying near it or because potsherds were there
ground down in order to make cement (PEFQS. 1904, p. 136). AV.
renders the east gate, deriving Harsith from heres ' sun.' The reference
is probably to the gate called the Dung-gate in Neh. ii. 13, &c. which
led into the valley of Hinnom.

3 — 9. These vv. are generally rejected as an editorial insertion by
most critics since Giesebrecht, the contents of the section being very
similar to other parts of the book; and also because it seems strange

152 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xix. 3-7

the Lord, 0 kings of Jiidah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem ; thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring
evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall
tingle. 4 Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged
this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom
they knew not, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah ;
and have filled this place with the blood of innocents ; 5 and
have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire
for burnt offerings unto Baal ; which I commanded not, nor spake
it, neither came it into my ^mind: 6 therefore, behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, that this place shall no more be called
Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of
Slaughter. 7 And I will ^make void the counsel of Judah and
Jerusalem in this place; and I will cause them to fall by the
sword before their enemies, and by the hand of them that seek
their life : and their carcases will I give to be meat for the fowls

^ Heb. heart. ^ Heb. empty out.

that when Jeremiah has been told to go to the valley of Hinnom to
hear God's message he should be represented as receiving it immediately.
A farther argument advanced by Giesebrecht is that the Greek of this
passage is different in style from the rest of the book, which suggests
that the original translators did not find these vv. in their Heb. text
and so it was added later. There is nothing remarkable in the subject
matter of the section which, as was pointed out above, is apparently
derived from other passages: terrible punishments are to come upon
Jerusalem on account of the evil rites practised by her, and so straitened
will the city become that the inhabitants will be reduced to cannibalism.

3. kings. The use of the plural seems to point to a time when
the monarchy was only a memory (cf. xvii. 20), though it may be merely
a scribal mistake due to dittography. At the same time the prophet
may be addressing the shade of the monarchs whose wickednesses had
some share in causing the coming distress (cf v. 4 lxx.).

ears shall tingle. Cf. 1 S. iii. 11; 2 K. xxi. 12.

4. estranged. By worshipping foreign gods in it.

their fathers and the kings of Judah; and have filled, lxx. places the
division dX fathers and continues and the kings of Judah have filled &c.

blood of innocents. Cf ii. 34; 2 K. xxi. 16, xxiv. 4; the reference
however should not be confined to child-sacrifice.

5 f Almost identical with vii. 31 f

7. make void. Heb. empty out with a play on the word for earthen
bottle; used in Is. xix. 3 of 'courage.' The latter part of v. is similar
to vii. 33.

XIX. 7-^3] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 153

of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth. 8 And I will
make this city an astonishment, and an hissing ; every one that
passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the
plagues thereof. 9 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of
their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat
every one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the strait-
ness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their life, shall
straiten them. 10 Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight
of the men that go with thee, 11 and shalt say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord of hosts : Even so will I break this people
and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be
made whole again: and they shall bury in Topheth, Hill there
be no place to bury. 12 Thus will I do unto this place, saith
the Lord, and to the inhabitants thereof, even making this city
as Topheth : 13 and the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses
of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of
Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned
incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink
ofl*erings unto other gods.

^ Or, because there shall be no place else

8. This V. is very similar to xviii. 16.

9. eat the flesh. A worse fate than for the body to be left unburied
(cf. Lev. xxvi. 29; Ez. v. 10 j and Lam. iv. 10); the v. is derived from
Dt. xxviii. 53, commenting on which Driver says, 'The thought. . .is dwelt
upon for the purpose of illustrating, in two vivid pictures, the ghastly
reversal of natural aflfection to which the severity of the siege will give
rise.'

10 — 13. In ch. xviii. Jeremiah taught that God could remould the
potter's clay and that a nation if only it would repent might he spared ;
the potter's art is here used to shew the fate of the nation which refuses
to hear God's warnings. The prophet, if vv. 3 — 9 are genuine, first gave
the teaching and then enforced it by his dramatic action; if however
the viK be omitted Jeremiah first performed the action and then inter-
preted it to the elders.

11. and they... bury. Omitted by LXX. and almost certainly an
insertion from vii. 32.

13. See on viii. 2 and cf. xxxii. 29, xxxiii. 4 ; 2 K. xxiii. 1 1 f ;
Zeph. i. 5; and Ez. xxiii. 7.

roofs. The flat roofs of oriental houses were and are used for a
variety of purposes (see Dr Swete on Mk. xiii. 15 f).

154 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xix. 14-xx. 3

14 Then came Jeremiah from Topheth, whither the Lord had
sent him to prophesy ; and he stood in the court of the Lord's
house, and said to all the people: 15 Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring upon this city and
upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against
it ; because they have made their neck stiff, that they might not
hear my words.

XX. 1 Now Pashhur the son of Immer the priest, who was
chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesy-
ing these things. 2 Then Pashhur smote Jeremiah the prophet,
and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benja-
min, which was in the house of the Lord. 3 And it came to pass

14 — XX. 6, The prophet returns to Jerusalem and repeats the
substance of his message in the temple court to the people there assem-
bled. He is arrested by Pashhur and imprisoned in the stocks. Jeremiah
denounces Pashhur and foretells his fate.

14. Doubtless the news of Jeremiah's action had preceded his return
and the people would wait with much curiosity for his message : the
temple crowds would differ but little from those of our Lord's day when
His deeds and sayings were eagerly discussed amongst them.

XX. 1. Pashhur the son of Immer. Both PasMwr and /w^wer appear
in post-exilic times as names of priestly families (see Ezra ii. 37f , x. 20;
Neh. vii. 40, &c.) and this fact has caused some doubt to be thrown on
the genuineness of their reference here to persons. Pashhur however is
common in this book, appearing in xxi. 1 and xxxviii. 1 (of two differ-
ent persons). According to v. 6 Jeremiah's opponent was himself a
prophet, this fact need not cause surprise as the majority of the prophets
were apparently firm allies of the priests and it was only when individual
prophets rose above the spiritual level of their order that conflicts ensued.

chief officer, lit. ruler, overseer. The office seems to have carried
with it functions similar to those exercised by Zephaniah ' the second
priest ' (xxix. 26, cf Hi. 24), though there is nothing to shew that the
two offices were identical (cf Erbt, Jeremia, pp. 15 — 17).

2 f The Bible records three other instances of similar treatment ;
Micaiah (1 K. xxii. 24 f ), St Paul (Acts xxiii. 2 f ) and our Blessed
Lord Himself (Matt. xxvi. 67 f ). In every instance except the last the
undeserved insult brought forth a fierce reply from the victim.

2. the stocks, SiCcoiAmg to Ecclus. xxxiii. 26, were much used to
punish unfaithful servants.

gate of Benjamin. The northern gate of the temple (cf 2 K. xv. 35) ;
one of the city gates bore the same name and is referred to in xxxvii. 13
and xxxviii. 7.

3. The Hebrew prophets whilst they denounced the sins of the
nation at large were also concerned with the offences of individuals. Cf.

XX. 3-6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 155

on the morrow, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the
stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The Lord hath not called
thy name Pashhur, but ^Magor-missabib. 4 For thus saith the
Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy
friends : and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and
thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the
hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to
Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. 5 Moreover I will
give all the riches of this city, and all the gains thereof, and all
the precious things thereof, yea, all the treasures of the kings of
Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies, which shall
spoil them, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. 6 And
thou, Pashhur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into
captivity : and thou shalt come to Babylon, and there thou shalt
die, and there shalt thou be buried, thou, and all thy friends, to
whom thou hast prophesied falsely.

1 That is, Terror on every side.

Amos' denunciation of Amaziah, the priest of Bethel (Am. vii. 10—17);
and Isaiah's condemnation of Shebna (Is. xxii. 15 flf.).

Magor-missabib meaning as the mg. says terror on every side.
The expression is also used in v. 10, vi. 25, xlvi. 5, xhx. 29 ; Lam. ii. 22.

4. In this case the fate of the survivor is worse than that of the
slain (cf. xxii. 10); the death of Pashhur's friends seems to be connected
with him in some way ; possibly he was a traitor, or more probably he
represented a policy which resulted in the overthrow of Jerusalem and
his friends with it.

6. all thy friends. In v. 4 \}aid friends were to be slain.

Chapter XX. 7—18.
The. Prophet's Complcbints.

This section quite evidently contains two distinct complaints by the prophet,
and the connexion between them, in spite of the opinion of Rothstein, can
hardly be more than external and accidental. The tremendous importance of
VT>. 7 — 10 as a revelation of the working of the prophetic mind has already been
commented upon in the Introduction (pp. xiii, xv) and the burst of praise which
follows it {w. 11 — 13) comes quite naturally upon the lips of one who has sur-
rendered himself to God's inspiration. The difficulty arises when the attempt
is made to read vv. 14 — 18 as an immediate sequel, for as Buttenwieser says,
'It would be psychologically impossible... for such faith, such surrender, such

156 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xx. 7, 8

spiritual exultation... to be followed immediately by such utter dejection and
bitterness of spirit.' Ewald tried to avoid this difficulty by transposing the two
sections and it is possible that such a change represents the true order, it is
best however to treat the two passages as quite independent expressions of the
prophet's agony.

Most critics look upon ve. 7 — 13 as coming from a time in Jeremiah's ministry
when his words were merely received with derision {v. 7 h) because the danger
which he foretold was still very remote and indeed not yet apparent. The rest
of the passage, however, seems to shew that the prophet has suffered violence
and that he has had many internal struggles to overcome; v. 10 also suggests
the later part of his ministry Avhen he suffered much from those who spied
upon him. The burst of praise {vv. 11—13) may have been the natural result
of Jeremiah's trust in God, but if any external event called it forth none would •
seem more suitable than the prophet's rescue from the dungeon (xxxviii. 10 — 13).

{a) JeremiaKs complaint. 7 — 10.

(&) The outburst of praise. 11 — 13.

(c) Jeremiah curses the day of his birth. 14 — 18.

7 0 Lord, thou hast Meceived me, and I was deceived: thou
art stronger than I, and hast prevailed : I am become a laughing-
stock all the day, every one mocketh me. 8 For as often as I
speak, I cry out ; I cry, Violence and spoil : because the word of

1 Or, enticed

7 — 10. Jeremiah complains that God has seized upon him and
forced him, against his own will, to become the vehicle of the Divine
utterance regarding Judah and Jerusalem. The circumstances of the
prophet's life are too strong for him and he lives in an atmosphere of
perpetual danger and suspicion. There is a rather interesting parallel
to this protest of Jeremiah in the Sibylline Oracles, ill. 1 ff. ' 0 thou who
thunderest from on high... I pray thee give me a short respite from mine
unerring oracle, for my soul within me is weary. Nay why did my
heart again flutter, and why is my soul lashed with a spur from within,
compelled to announce my message ? '

7, deceived : mg. enticed. The underlying idea is that the prophet has
been drawn into an undertaking which was dangerous beyond anything
which he had anticipated. Savonarola had exactly the same feeling, as he
told the people of Florence in Advent 1494 : 'I was in a safe haven, the
life of a friar ; I looked at the waves of the world and saw therein much
fish ; with my hook I caught some, that is by my preaching I led a few
into the way of salvation. As I took pleasure therein the Lord drave
my bark into the open sea. Before me on the vast ocean I see terrible
tempests brewing. Behind I have lost sight of my haven : the wind
drives me forward, and the Lord forbids my return.' Quoted by
Creighton, Hist, of the Papacy, iv. 252 f.

8. Violence and spoil. The monotony of Jeremiah's message was

XX. 8-1.] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 157

the Lord is made a reproach unto me, and a derision, all the day.
9 And if I say, I w\\\ not make mention of him, nor speak any
more in his name, then there is in mine heart as it were a burn-
ing fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing,
and I cannot contain. 10 For I have heard the defaming of
many, terror on every side. Denounce, and we will denounce
him, say all my familiar friends, they that watch for my halting ;
peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against
him, and we shall take our revenge on him. 11 But the Lord
is with me as a mighty one and a terrible : therefore my perse-
cutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail : they shall be
greatly ashamed, because they have not ^ dealt wisely, even with
an everlasting dishonour which shall never be forgotten. 12 But,

^ Or, prospered

apparent even to himself, and yet it was the only one possible in view
of the state of the nation (c£ xxiii. 33 ff. and the similar experience of
Isaiah, xxviii. 9 ff.)- Some critics, however, take the reference to be to
the prophet's own experience whenever he speaks in God's name,
Buttenwieser, for example, translates As often as I speak I have to cry
out, have to complain of violence and abuse.

unto me. Not a reproach and derision to Jeremiah himself, but
the cause of his being a reproach and derision (cf xv. 15).

9. burning fire. If the messengers of the old dispensation, which
was one of condemnation, thus burned to deliver their message how
much more should the preacher of the glad tidings of salvation long
'to burn out for God.' Qui non ardet non incendit. The metaphor of

fire is often used for the effect of the prophet's message; see Ecclus.
xlviii. 1 where it is said of Elijah that he 'arose a prophet like fire
whose word was like a burning furnace.' Cf Mai. iv. 1, 5.

10. familiar friends. Cf. xxxviii. 22 ; Ps. xli. 9.

enticed. The plan of these false friends was probably similar to
that of the Pharisees who endeavoured to entrap our Lord into making
incriminating statements by means of which they could denounce Him
to the authorities. The experiences of the servants are gathered up in
the experiences of the Master.

11 — 13. The prophet's confidence is fixed on the infinite might
and knowledge of God and therefore he can be certain of ultimate
triumph.

11. as a mighty one &c. Kimchi suggested the possibility of
applying these words to Jeremiah himself which improves the sense of
the V. Since the Lord is ivith me I am as a mighty one... therefore my
persecutors shall stumble.

12. This V. is probably a gloss here from xi. 20.

158 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xx. i^-i8

0 Lord of hosts, that triest the righteous, that seest the reins
and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them ; for unto thee
have I revealed my cause. 13 Sing unto the Lord, praise ye the
Lord : for he hath delivered the soul of the needy from the hand
of evil-doers.

14 Cursed be the day wherein I was born : let not the day
wherein my mother bare me be blessed. 15 Cursed be the man
who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born
unto thee; making him very glad. 16 And let that man be as
the cities which the Lord overthrew, and repented not: and
let him hear a cry in the morning, and ^shouting at noontide;

17 because he slew me not from the womb ; and so my mother
should have been my grave, and her womb always great.

18 Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and
sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

^ Or, an alarm

13. When the prophet's heart is strengthened he feels that the
victory is won, for his worst enemy is his own weakness of spirit.

14 — 18. Jeremiah bewails the hour in which he was born, the
beginning of a life of pain and sorrow. A similar passage is to be
found in Job iii. 3 — 12 and in the opinion of most critics it is based on
the present one. Peake, for example, says, 'Jeremiah's is a natural
outburst, springing from a soul stirred to its depths; Job's curse is
much more artificial and literary' (see however Bishop Gibson, Job,
p. xx).

14. the day. An anniversary of woe not of joy and therefore to
be cursed and not to be blessed. Cf. Euripides, Cresph. fr. 452 (quoted
by Westcott, Belig. Thought in the West, p. 123).

' 'Twere well that men in solemn conclave met,
Should mourn each birth as prelude of great woes.'

15. Jeremiah recollects all the circumstances which aroused joy
and turns them into occasions of misery. He goes further than Job
who merely curses the day itself — he does not however curse those
directly responsible for his coming into the world.

man child. The birth of a daughter was not considered to be
a matter for rejoicing (cf Menachoth, 436). Ecclus. xxii. 3 states that
a daughter is born to the loss of her father.

16. the cities. Gen. xix. 25; cf Is. xiii. 19.

17. from. Lxx., Syr. in as required by the context.

XXI. i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 159

CHAPTERS XXL— XXIV.

These chapters deal with a series of messages delivered in response to an
enquiry by Zedekiah as to the issue of Nebuchadrezzar's warlike approach, for
this reason Ewald gave them the name of 'The Roll of Zedekiah.' In his reply
Jeremiah depicts, in the darkest colours, the ultimate fate of Jerusalem ; and
at the same time he proceeds to shew upon whose shoulders the blame for it
must lie. The state of desperate peril to which the nation has been brought is
due primarily to the failure of the natural leaders of the people both in Church
and State.

The prophet's warning, xxi.

Denunciations of the royal house, xxii.

The ideal king, xxiii. 1 —8.

Denunciations of the false prophets, xxiii. 9 — 40.

The symbol of the basket of figs. xxiv.

Chapter XXI.
Jerusalem will fall before the Babylonians.

The beginning of this ch. is placed in the reign of Zedekiah and in the midst
of the siege ; a truly extraordinary chang# of date and situation from the last
one. No really satisfactory explanation can be given for the sudden transition
and for the juxtaposition of the two chh. — possibly the occuiTcnce of the name
Pashhur in each section, though the reference is to different persons, may
account for it. There are close similarities between the present narrative and
that recorded in xxxvii. 3 — 10, and some critics would accordingly refer the two
passages to the same incident. It is quite likely, however, that Zedekiah sent
to Jeremiah for advice on more than one occasion and there are differences in
the situations pre-supposed by the two narratives which suggest that they be-
long to different stages of the siege. The ch. may be analysed as follows:

(a) ZedehiaKs enquiry and JeremiaKs answer. 1 — 7.

{b) In submission alone lies tlie way of escape. 8 — 10.

(c) A warning to the house of David. 11 f.

{d) A fragment of condemnation. 13 f.

XXI. 1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord,

XXI. 1 — 7. Jeremiah's reply to the deputation which Zedekiah
sent to enquire as to the result of the siege: — God will fight for the
enemies of Jerusalem until the city falls into their hands. The depu-
tation which consisted of men of high rank (cf. Balak's embassy to
Balaam ; Nu. xxii. 15) was sent in all probability shortly after the
beginning of the siege (cf. v. 4).

1. The word .. .Lord. Th^ same introduction occurs in vii. 1, xi.
1, &c.

160 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxi. 1-5

when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashhur the son of Malchijah,
and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying, 2 Inquire,
I pray thee, of the Lord for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon maketh war against us : peradventure the Lord will deal
with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up
from us.

3 Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zede-
kiah : 4 Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Behold, I will
turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith
ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans
which besiege you, without the walls, and I will gather them
into the midst of this city. 5 And I myself will fight against

Pashhur. In xx. 1 the name also occurs of another Pashhur, the
son of Immer tlie priest. Pashhur the son of Malchijah, who is men-
tioned here and xxxviii. 1, was probably not a priest as the title does
not appear after his name (contrast Zephaniah).

Zephaniah. It has been suggested that Zephaniah was the father
of Josiah (see Zech. vi. 10, cf. 14). He is mentioned also in xxix. 25
and xxxvii. 3. In the latter passage he appears as being sent to
Jeremiah on a similar errand; some critics therefore think that the
recurrence of the name makes it probable that two different accounts
have been preserved of the same interview.

2. Nebuchadrezzar. The original of the name is Nabu kuduruzur,
i.e. Nebo protect the crown; the form here used is therefore the correct
one (see Schrader, KAT.^ pp. 361 ff.).

wondrous works. Zedekiah evidently expected a miraculous inter-
vention of the Divine Power similar to that which had occurred in the
time of Hezekiah (Is. xxxvii. 6). The king and his advisers failed
entirely to realise that the possibility of Jehovah's intervention de-
pended on the moral condition of those who besought it. This state
of affairs must have made the position of Jeremiah exceedingly difficult.
Why did he not come forward like a second Isaiah and save the nation
and the holy city? At the very least he ought to strengthen the
defenders by encouraging words.

4, From the evidence of this v. the siege was only in its early
stages as fighting was still taking place outside the walls (cf Is. xxviii.
6). Jeremiah, however, foretells that the defenders will be driven in,
and the city closely invested; contrast the very different answer of
Isaiah under similar circumstances (xxxvii. 29).

5. The language of this v. is similar to that of Dt. xxix. 28. Duhm
points out that the strong phrases elsewhere used of Jehovah fighting
against the enemies of Israel, are here used of His fighting against
Israel itself.

XXI. 5-8] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 161

you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in
anger, and in fury, and in great wrath, 6 And I will smite the
inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a
great pestilence. 7 And afterward, saith the Lord, I will deliver
Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, even
such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword,
and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand
of those that seek their life : and he shall smite them with the
edge of the sword ; he shall not spare them, neither have pity,
nor have mercy, 8 And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus

outstretched hand. The figure is here used of punishment, and not,
as is more common, of salvation (cf Dt. iv. 34, v. 15, xxvi. 8 and see
on V. 5).

anger .. Jury .. great wrath. Notice the threefold repetition of
synonyms in this and the following v. Anger (?1N), lit. nostril, repre-
sents the heavy breathing caused by strong emotion, the word is
generally used, by an anthropomorphism, of the Divine anger ; fury
(DH') comes from a root meaning to be hot, and therefore means burning
anger, rage; great wrath (fj^'p) is always used of God except in late
passages.

6. man and beast. The city would be crowded with refugees who
had fled from the surrounding country driving their cattle before them.

pestilence. The outbreak of epidemics was an especial danger during
a siege, and sometimes played a decisive part in ancient warfare. See
further on xvi. 4.

7. edge of the sword. Lit. according to the mouth of the sivord i.e.
as the sword devours, ruthlessly, without mercy or quarter.

spare... pity... have mercy. These three words represent the contem-
plative, the negative, and the active sides of benevolence respectively.
The last word is generally used of God's loving-kindness.

8 — 10. Submission alone can bring escape from death: the people
are bidden to make their choice. The message to the king is followed
by a message to the people; but though these two passages are placed
togCijher, it is by no means necessary to suppose that they were spoken
on the same occasion. The prophet puts to his hearers the same pitiable
alternative as in the answer to the king — life, on the one hand, by
desertion to the enemy ; on the other, death, by remaining in the city.

8. The figure of the Two Ways is, according to Cornill, of Jere-
miah's coinage. It also occurs in Dt. xxx. 15, and became very popular
with later writers of an allegorical turn of mind (e.g. Ecclus. xv. 17;
Mt. vii. 13 £; 2 Pet. ii. 2; The Didache i. 1; Ep. Barn. 17; Clem.
Alex. Strom, v. 5).

B. 11

162 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxi. 8-i.

saith the Lord : Behold, I set before you the way of life and the
way of death. 9 He that abideth in this city shall die by the
sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that
goeth out, and falleth away to the Chaldeans that besiege you,
he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey. 10 For

1 have set my face upon this city for evil, and not for good, saith
the Lord : it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon,
and he shall burn it with j&re.

11 And touching the house of the king of Judah, hear ye the
word of the Lord: 12 O house of David, thus saith the Lord,
Execute judgement in the morning, and deliver the spoiled out

the way of life. The way, that is, which leads to life ; that policy
which will ultimately result in the salvation of the State, or in the
personal safety of the individual, as the case may be.

9. for a frey. i.e. escape with his bare life. The figure is of one
who goes out in search of spoil, and in the end is glad to return without
the loss of his life. Jeremiah is the only writer who makes use of the
metaphor (xxxviii. 2, xxxix. 18, xlv. 5), and this is the first occasion
of his so doing. It is possible that our Lord's picture of the man who
gained the whole world and yet lost his own life {^vyf])., was suggested
by this usage of Jeremiah (Mk. viii. 36). Cf Ea's Avarning to Utna-
pishtim in the Babylonian flood story: —

'Forsake thy possessions, seek to save life
Abandon thy goods and cause thy soul to live.'

10. set my face. The same expression is found in Arabic- and
cf Lk. ix, 51.

11 f These vo. have no apparent connexion either with what
precedes or with what follows. They evidently come from an earlier
period when national repentance was still possible. No really satis-
factory reason can be suggested for their presence here unless the
reference to fire in vm. 10 and 14 seemed to provide a context iox fire
in V. 12.

12. 0 house of David. The mention of David was doubtless
intended as a reminder to the king of his noble ancestry, and all that
it involved of service to God and uprightness towards man.

judgement. To administer justice was the primary duty of the
oriental ruler, and was recognised as such by the popular conscience ;
hence the success of Absalom's specious arguments against his father
(2 S. XV. 4).

morning. The early morning was the usual time for the administra-
tion of justice, so as to avoid the heat of the later part of the day (cf.

2 S. iv. 5). The reference, however, need not be taken literally; the
prophet's demand is that the king should make justice his first concern

XXI. 12-14] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 163

of the hand of the oppressor, lest my fury go forth like fire, and
burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of ^your doings.

13 Behold, I am against thee, O ^inhabitant of the valley, ^and
of the rock of the plain, saith the Lord ; ye which say. Who shall
come down against us? or who shall enter into our habitations?

14 and I will punish you according to the fi-uit of your doings,
saith the Lord : and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall
devour all that is round about her.

1 Another reading is, their. - Heb. inhabitress. ^ Or, and rock

(cf Zeph. iii. 5, and the constantly recurring phrase ' rising up early
and sending ').

spoiled... oppressor. These words are often found in the same
context. The Heb. word for spoiled is used in Job xxiv. 9 of a child
snatched from its mother's breast. Oppressor may be used of tyranny
over a nation or an individual (cf vii. 6, xxii. 3).

13 £ These vv. have been described as ' very obscure and difficult,'
and it is indeed hard to explain them in their j^resent context with any
satisfaction. Inhabitant (v. 13) is feminine and would naturally be
applied to Jerusalem; but the holy city was situated neither in a
valley, nor yet upon a 7-ock rising from a plain (cf Ps. cxxv. 2).
Possibly the passage as originally composed referred to some other
nation or city (cf xlviii. 8, 45 on Moab) and having been detached
from its context was inserted here by a compiler ; so Driver.

13. I am against thee. Cf Ez. xiii. 8.

plain. The Heb. word used here (liv^^P) is generally applied to the
elevated table-land east of the Jordan (cf xvii. 3).

come doivn. This phrase is never used of approaching Jerusalem.

habitations. Driver suggests the translation lairs, and adds the
following note : ' In which we are secure, like lions in their forest homes.
The word, as Ps. civ. 22; Nah. ii. 12 ("dens").'

14. forest. Cf xlvi. 23. Jerusalem is compared to ^forest by
Ezekiel (xxi. 1 — 4), and Israel by Isaiah (ix. 18, x. 18). Keil suggests
that the figure was chosen because a city was a fm-est of houses (cf
XX. 6).

Chapter XXII.
A Series of Denunciations of the Kings of the Period.

This ch. contains a number of oracles on the kings of Judah who succeeded
Josiah ; it is not probable that they were all uttered on the same occasion, and
therefore it is necessary to suppose that they have been brought together by

11—2

164 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxii. 1-3

Jeremiah himself, or by Baruch, or some other editor. Many critics think that
the original oracles have received later additions.

(a) JeremiaKs mission of warning. 1—5.

(ft) Forecast of the omrthrow of the house of David. 6 — 9.

(c) The oro.cle on Jehoahaz. 10 — 12.

{(T) The contrast bettceen Josiah and Jehoiakiin. 13 — 19.

{e) The fate of Coniah. 20—30.

XXII. 1 Thus said the Lord : Go down to the house of the
king of Judah, and speak there this word, 2 and say, Hear the
word of the Lord, 0 king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne
of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in
by these gates. 3 Thus saith the Lord: Execute ye judgement
and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the
oppressor : and do no wrong, do no violence, to the stranger, the
fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this

XXII. 1 — 5. This section, with that which follows, forms an
introduction or setting to the oracles as a whole and is to a large extent
the work of an editor. In vv. \—b the rulers are exhorted to do justice
in the land if they desire God's favour (cf the similar stress on justice
in xxi. 11 f ).

1. For the opening formula Thus said the Lord followed by a
command, cf. xiii. 1, xxvi. 2, xxvii. 2.

Go down. The temple, where Jeremiah evidently received God's
commands, was higher than the palace; cf. xxvi. 10, xxxvi. 12; 2 Ch.
xxiii. 20.

2. The phraseology of this v. is rather unusual, but has some
similarity to vii. 2, xvii. 20.

thro)ie of David. The men of Judah were undoubtedly proud that
their reigning family could claim direct descent from David, especially
in contrast with the short lived dynasties of the ill-fated Northern
Kingdom. The unbroken succession had also its significance as a
mark of God's favour.

that enter in hy these gates. Cf the use of the same phrase in
Gen. xxiii. 10, 18, xxxiv. 24, for the citizens of a town.

3. This V. from its tone might be an utterance by Micah, or
Isaiah, or one of the earlier prophets: cf xxi. 12, xxiii. 5, and Introd.
p. Ixi.

do no violence. The Heb. word is always used of internal oppression
(except in Is. xlix. 26), and especially of tyranny over the stranger
(Ex. xxii. 20; Ley. xix. 33, xxv. 14, &c.).

stranger. ' The foreigner temporarily resident in Israel who had no
legal stixtus of his own and who is repeatedly commended to the regard
of Israel in Deuteronomy.' Cf vii. 6.

XXII. 3-7] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 165

place. 4 For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter
in by the gates of this house kings sitting Hipon the throne of
David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and
his people. 5 But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by
myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.
6 For thus saith the Lord -concerning the house of the king of
Judah: Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon:
yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are
not inhabited. 7 And I will ^prepare destroyers against thee,
every one with his weapons : and they shall cut down thy choice

1 Heb. for David upon his throne. "^ Or, unto ^ Heb. sanctify.

4. Cf. xvii. 25. '
this house. The palace not the temple.

upon the tJirone of David. The mg. gives the literal translation
for David upon his throne.

5. I swear by myself Cf. xlix. 13, h. 14; Gen. xxii. 16; Dt. xxxii.
40—42; Am. vi. 8; Is. xlv. 23.

6 — 9. A lament over the king's house under the figure of the
destruction of the forests of Gilead and Lebanon. In strong contrast
to the previous section the doom of the nation is here held to be
inevitable. The change of outlook would in itself be sufficient to make
it probable that this section has no vital connexion with its predecessor,
and the probability is made almost certain by the change of metre,
vv. 6f being in the Qinah measure (cf. Budde, ZATW. ii. 29, in.
303). As Giesebrecht says, the previous section was a sermon, this
one is an elegy.

6. house of the king of Judah. This is rather a strange phrase,
and may refer either to the House of David, or to the actual palace
taken as a symbol of the nation and its government.

Gilead. ..Lebanon. Doughty was especially struck by Gilead : 'How
fresh,' he says, ' to the sight and sweet to every sense are those wood-
land limestone hills, full of the balm-smelHng pines... in all paths are
blissful fountains ; the valley heads flow down healing to the eyes with
veins of purest water.' Arabia Deserta, i. 17. (Cf. Is. ii. 13, xxxiii.
9 ; Nah. i. 4 ; Zech. xi. 2.) Lebanon is similarly used in Is. xxxvii. 24 ;
Ps. Ixxii. 16; and Cant. iv. 15. It is interesting to notice that in the
Talmudic Tractate Yoma 39 6 Lebanon is used as a synonym for
Jerusalem.

cities. . .not inhabited. The metaphor is suddenly abandoned, and the
climax of the warning is reached by the swift introduction of the literal
fact.

7. prepare, mg. sanctify : see on vi. 4.

thy choice cedars. The prophet again returns to his metaphor.
Lebanon was noted from the earliest times for its wonderful cedars.

166 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxii. 7-"

cedars, and cast them into the fire. 8 And many nations shall
pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour,
Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city? 9 Then
they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord
their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.

10 Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him : but weep
sore for him that goeth away ; for he shall return no more, nor
see his native country. 11 For thus saith the Lord touching
^Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, which reigned instead

1 In 2 Kings xxiii. 30, Jehoahaz. Compare 1 Cbr. iii. 15.

which are mentioned in the inscriptions of Gudea of Sirgurla(c. 2800 B.C.),
and even in the present are held in reverenced In this passage the
cedars represent the leaders of the nation.

8—9. These vv. are an addition in Deuteronomic style made by
a prosaic scribe who wished to point the moral, vv. 6—7 in the
Hebrew are in a poetic form and the sudden descent into prose though
not uncommon is suspicious; cf. v. 19; Dt. xxix. 24 f ; 1 K. ix. 8f. ;
Mai. i. 4. ^ ,

10—12. A lament over Shallum. Cf. Ez. xix. 2 ff. and see Introd.

p. xxiii.

10. This V. is in metrical form and serves, as it were, for the text
of what follows.

the dead. i.e. Josiah, who fell in the battle of Megiddo. Captivity
in Egypt is looked upon as a worse fate than death in battle. According
to 2 Ch. XXXV. 25 there were annual lamentations for Josiah.

he shall return no more. Jehoahaz was the first ruler of the Southern
Kingdom to die in exile.

11. Shallum. i.e. Jehoahaz: so called in 1 Ch. iii. 15, according
to which passage he was the youngest son of Josiah. Jehoahaz was
evidently chosen by the people to succeed his father on account of the
similarity of their policy ; at any rate he was unacceptable to Pharaoh
Necho who deposed him after a reign of only three months. Why
Jehoahaz was called Shallum is not certain; it was apparently no un-
usual thing for kings of Judah to change their names on coming to the
throne, and such a change may have taken place in his case. Another
explanation is that the name was given to him by the prophet, or the
people, because the shortness of his reign was a punishment for his mis-
deeds (Shallum in Hebrew means requited). Graf suggests that just as
Jezebel called Jehu a Zimri on account of the similarity of their conduct
(2 K. xi. 31), so the shortness of his reign may have suggested a com-

1 Kinglake, writing early in the last century, says, ' The group of cedars re-
maining on this part of the Lebanon is held sacred by the Greek Church, on
account of the prevailing notion that the trees were standing at the time when the
Temple of Jerusalem was built.' Eothen, p. 229.

xxii. 11-15] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 167

of Josiah his father, which went forth out of this place : He shall
not return thither any more; 12 but in the place whither they
have led him captive, there shall he die, and he shall see this land
no more.

1 3 Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness,
and his chambers by injustice ; that useth his neighbour's service
without wages, and giveth him not his hire; 14 that saith, I will
build me a wide house and spacious chambers, and cutteth him
out windows ; and it is cieled with cedar, and painted with ver-
milion. 15 Shalt thou reign, because thou ^strivest to excel in

1 Or, viest with the cedar

parison with Shallum of Israel (2 K. xv. 13). In any case Shallum was
a common enough name, and was borne by fourteen difi'erent people in
OT. incbiding the uncle of .Jeremiah himself (xxxii. 7) ; tbe husband of
the prophetess Huldah (2 K. xxii. 14); as well as by the father of Jere-
miah's contemporary Alaaseiah (xxxv. 4)^

13 — 19. A condemnation of Jehoiakim on account of his extravagant
and oppressive building operations. No doubt Josiah's long and peaceful
reign had enabled the people to amass a certain amount of wealth and
the tribute to Egypt was not an excessively heavy one (2 K. xxiii. 33),
so possibly the prophet's judgement is a little harsh in this instance.
At the same time Jehoiakim's desire for luxurious buildings, which were
of no use for purposes of defence, must have aroused much opposition
and murmuring amongst the people (see Introd. pp. xxiii f.).

13. The prophets as a whole seem to have been opposed to anything
which savoured of luxury, probably because it was alien to the earlier
spirit of the nation (cf Am. i. 4 with Edghill's note).

chambers. Better roof-chambers, so Driver. Cf 1 K. xvii. 19; 2 K.
i. 2, &c. and see Thomson, The Land and the Book, 11. p. 634.

without wages. An Eastern monarch thought little of exacting forced
labour from his subjects, though the excessive indulgence of the supposed
right was often the cause of rebellion and trouble (cf 2 Ch. ii. 17 f ).
The parallelism suggests that in this case the wages were withheld by
injustice (cf Job vii. 2 ; Ecclus. xxxiv. 22 ; Jas. v. 4). The right to the
due payment of his wages was the only one which the hireling had by
law (Dt. xxiv. 14 flf. ; Lev. xix. 13) and unlike the slave he had no one
to protect his interests. In the so-called ' Sumerian farming-laws ' pro-
vision is made for the prompt payment of the hired labourer; see
S. A. Cook, Laws of Moses &c. pp. 171, 189 f

14. vermilion. A favourite colour with the ancients, which can still

1 It is perhaps not out of place to compare the Japanese custom of referring to
a dead emperor by a name different from that which he bore during his lifetime,
e.g. the late Emperor Mutsu Hito (Gentle Piety) who died on June 30th, 1912, is
now known as Meiji (Enlightened Government).

168 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxii. .5-18

cedar? did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgement and
justice? then it was well with him. 16 He judged the cause of
the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not this to know
me? saith the Lord. 17 But thine eyes and thine heart are not
but for thy ^covetousness, and for to shed innocent blood, and for
oppression, and for violence, to do it. 18 Therefore thus saith
the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah :
They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother ! or. Ah
sister ! they shall not lament for him, saying, Ah lord ! or, Ah

^ Or, dislionest gain

be found on excavated buildings. According to Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxxv.
13, the dye came from Sinope.

15. in cedar, lxx. (and Arabic) reads with Ahaz; lxx. a reads
Ahah (cf. 1 K. xxii. 39). Cornill thinks that a personal name is wanted
here and accepts the lxx. reading as the original {HBOT. p. 62); but
it is hard to see why Ahaz or Ahab should have been chosen rather
than Solomon.

thy father. The last section contained a comparison between Josiah
and one of his sons as to his fate ; this section contains a comparison
between Josiah and another son as to his rule and character. That
Jeremiah should feel himself able to hold up Josiah as an example, after
his tragic fate, is a wonderful testimony to the strength of his convictions,
and reveals his ability to go against popular standards of judgement.

18 f There is some doubt as to the fate of Jehoiakim's body; a
similar prophecy in xxxvi. 30 says that 'his dead body shall be cast out
in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost.' But accc^rding to
the account in 2 K. xxiv. 6 Jehoiakim 'slept with his fathers,' which
would presumably mean that he was buried with the kings of Judah.
It is hardly likely that these utterances would both have been preserved
if later generations knew them to be inconsistent with the facts; possibly
Jehoiakim received a hurried and unceremonious burial during the first
siege (but cf note on v. 19), and when the Chaldeans entered Jerusalem
his body was exhumed and then ' cast out ' ; cf Cambyses' treatment
of the body of Amasis (Herod, in. 16)\ and the fate of the bodies of
Cromwell and the other regicides at the Restoration; and see also
Joseph. Antiq. xvi. vii. 1 ff. for the horrors involved in desecrating a
tomb.

18. Jehoiakim. Jeremiah does not shrink from denouncing the
king by name.

not lament for him. See Gen. xxiii. 2 (with Driver's note); Am.

^ For other examples of the mutilation of dead bodies in ancient times see
Frazer, Adonis &c. ii. pp. 103 f.

xxii. 18-.1] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 169

his glory! 19 He shall be buried with the burial of an ass,
drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

20 Go up to Lebanon, and cry ; and lift up thy voice in Bashan :
and cry from Abarim ; for all thy lovers are destroyed. 211 spake
unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou saidst, I will not hear.
This hath been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyedst

V. 16; and cf. Spenser's lines on the death of the Earl of Leicester in
The Ruins of Time :

'I saw him die, I saw him die, as one
Of the meane people, and brought forth on beare ;
I saw him die and no man left to mone
His doleful fate.'

1 9. burial of an ass. This probably means that his body was simply
dragged aside and left for the dogs or vultures to devour, like that of
Jezebel (cf. Jud. xv. 15 where the jaw-bone of an ass is found lying
about). To the ancients the fate which befell the body had an important
influence on the future life and the position which would be given to
the deceased in the nether world. (According to Bel and the Dragon
32 one of the great horrors of the fate provided for Daniel was that his
body would be unburied and cf Ez. xxxii. 23 ; Is. xiv. 15 ; Enoch xcviii.
13 f ; for the same belief amongst the ancient Egyptians see Ebers,
Aegypten, p. 324 ; and for the Babylonians, Jastrow, Relig. Belief in Bah.
and Ass. p. 359). It was therefore an act of great piety and merit to
bury the dead (Tob. i. 18, ii. 8) and, especially amongst the Greeks, one
which was to be performed at all costs (cf i\\e Antigone of Sophocles;
Xenophon, Anah. iv. i. 19, and the punishment inflicted on the
Athenian admirals after the battle of Arginusae).

20 — 30. This section consists of three distinct passages ; vv. 20 — 23
addressed to the people calling upon them to lament; vv. 24 — 27
threatening Jehoiachin with captivity; and vv. 28 — 30 adding the
further punishment of childlessness.

20 — 23. These ve. are apparently a fragment inserted here be-
cause of the reference in v. 22 to the rulers under the figure of
shephei'ds.

20. Lebanon... Bashan... Abarim. These mountains overlooked
Israel and Judah beginning from the North and working down the
Eastern boundary. The people are bidden to assemble on the outposts
of the land and to lift up their voices (cf iii. 21; Is. xv. 2). The
mountains of Abarim lie to SE. of Judah across the Dead Sea and it
was from Nebo, the summit of this range, that Moses looked upon the
promised land (Nu. xxvii. 12; Dt. xxxii. 49).

lovers. The term here probably refers to allied nations, as in liv. 30.

21. This V. describes Judah's ' forgetfulness ' of God ' in the time
of her wealth.'

170 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxii. .i-^s

not my voice. 22 The wind shall ^feed all thy shepherds, and
thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be
ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness. 23 0 ^ inhabi-
tant of Lebanon, that makest thy nest in the cedars, ^how greatly
to be pitied shalt thou be when pangs come upon thee, the pain
as of a woman in travail ! 24 As I live, saith the Lord, though
*Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet
upon my right hand, yet would I pluck thee thence ; 25 and I
will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, and into
the hand of them of whom thou art afraid, even into the hand
of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the
Chaldeans. 26 And I will cast thee out, and thy mother that
bare thee, into another country, where ye were not born ; and
there shall ye die. 27 But to the land whereunto Hheir soul
longeth to return, thither shall they not return. 28 Is this man
Coniah a despised broken ^vessel? is he a vessel wherein is no

1 Or, feed upon '^ Heb. inhahitress.

•* Some ancient versions have, }iow wilt thou groan.

* In ch. xxiv. 1, and 1 Chr. iii. 16, Jeconiah. In 2 Kings xxiv. 6, 8, Jehoiachin.

^ Heb. they lift up their soul. ® Or, pot

22. feed. The mg. feed upon is better; it contains a play on the
word shepherds, ' depasture thy pastors.'

23. Cf. Is. xxxvii. 24 ; Hab. ii. 9.

24 — 27. These vv. refer to the fate which is to befall Jehoiachin in
the future.

24. Co7iiah. Also called Jehoiachin, Hi. 31; 2 K. xxiv. 6, &c. and
Jeconiah, xxiv. 1, &c. His brief reign of only three months was long
enough to give cause, for the prophet's indignation.

signet. Perhaps the badge of royal power; cf. Gen. xh. 42; Est.
iii. 10; Tob. i. 22; 1 Mace. vi. 15. The same metaphor is used for
the restoration of Judah in Hag. ii. 23 evidently with this passage in
mind. Cf. the value of a signet-ring or seal in Gen. xxxviii. 18; and
Cant. viii. 6. For a description see Benzinger, Archdol. 106 ; Enc. Bib.
4113.

26. thy mother. See on xiii. 18.

28 — 30. The fate which threatened Coniah and the nation has now
been accomplished and the vessel which no longer served God's purpose
has been shattered and thrown away (cf. xix. 11).

28. vessel. This word is different from that similarly translated
in the next clause; it occurs here only but the root meaning is to
mould or fashion, hence it could be used of a pot (as mg.) or of a carved
image (cf. Enc. Bib. 3818).

vessel wherein is no pleasure. Cf xlviii. 38 ; Hos. viii. 8 where the

XXII. 28-xxiiL i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 171

pleasure? wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed, and are
cast into the land which they know not? 29 0 ^ earth, earth,
earth, hear the word of the Lord. 30 Thus saith the Lord, Write
ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days :
for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of
DaA'id, and ruling any more in Judah,

XXIII. 1 Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter

1 Or, land

same phrase is used. lxx. translates wherein is no use (xpf'a), contrast
2 Tim. ii. 21.

29. earth, earth, earth. The translation of mg. kind is perhaps
more suitable. See note on vii. 4 for the three-fold repetition ; and of
' Oh ! earth, earth, earth, thou yet shalt bow ' in Christina Rossetti's
poem To what Purpose is this Waste.

30. Write ye. Cf Ps. Ixix. 28, Ixxxvii. 6 ; Ez. xiii. 9. Driver para-
phrases ' Register him so in the roll of citizens.'

childless. Cf v. 28 'and his seed.' Jehoiachin was childless in
the sense that no son of his sat upon the throne of Judah. According
to 1 Ch. iii. 17 f lie had children and his name is included in the
genealogical list in Matt. i. 1 1 f The lxx. rendering iKKrjpvKTov banished
is purely arbitrary and in the endeavour to avoid any appearance of
disagreement with other passages of Scripture it sacrifices accuracy of
translation.

XXIII. 1 — 8. A denunciation of the evil shepherds who have
scattered the flock, and a promise of a righteous ruler (cf Ps. Ixxii.).
This passage, after condemning those who have led the nation astray,
takes for granted the accomplishment of God's purpose of judgement
and looks forward to a time when the nation will be restored. The
shepherds are to be punished, but the remnant of the flock will be
gathered and led back totireTold ; the Lord will also appoint over them
true shepherds (cf Ez. xxxiv. where David himself is to be the shepherd
of the peoj^e). Many critics look upon this section as a continuation
of the previous judgements on the successors of .Josiah, and though
Zedekiah is not named there is much to be said for this view. The name
of the ideal king Jehovah is our righteousness may well be taken as a
play on Zedekiah (Jah is righteous), and as a, sign that the name which
was given by a heathen sovereign to the last legitimate king of Judah
(2 K. xxiv. 17) would be fulfilled in all its_meauing by the Messianic
ruler. Tlie fact that Zedekiah is not actually condemned of even named
may be due to his having been merely a tool in the hands of the un-
worthy princes (the shepherds of -y. 1). Cornill points out that Jeremiah,
unlike Ezekiel, nowhere makes a direct personal attack on Zedekiah.
The whole passage is rejected as late by Duhm and Erbt ; other scholars,
however, are content to reject parts of it only (see on vv. 5 f and 7 f ),

1. the shepherds, i.e. the rulers as in ii. 8 and so often in Jer.

172 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxiii. c-5

the sheep of my pasture ! saith the Lord. 2 Therefore thus saith
the Lord, the God of Israel, against the shepherds that feed my
people : Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and
have not visited them ; behold, I will visit upon you the evil of
your doings, saith the Lord. 3 And I will gather the remnant
of my flock out of all the countries whither I have driven them,
and will bring them again to their folds ; and they shall be fruit-
ful and multiply. 4 And I will set up shepherds over them which
shall feed them : and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed,
neither shall any be lacking, saith the Lord.

5 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise

and Ezek. These were the upstart nobles who took the places of those
removed in the deportation of 597~(crnCxxiv: 14 'he carried away
...all the princes'). The use of the figure of the i^hepherd as a descrip-
,tion of a ruler has ever been a favourite one with poets, and very often,
I it may be noticed, as a figure of condemnation. Cf. Dante's denunciation
of corrupt Popes — 'Fierce wolves in shepherd's garb with greedy eyes'
{Parad. xxvii. 55); and also Milton, Lycidas, 114 ff.

my pasture. God is the chief shepherd ; earthly rulers are only
deputies and must ever remember ' that strict and solemn account which
they must one day give before the judgement-seat of Christ ' ; cf 1 Pet.
V. 4; and our Lord's claim in Jn. xxi. 15; and for the phrase itself
Ez. xxxiv. 31 ; Ps. Ixxiv. 1, Ixxix. 13, c. 3.

2. This V. was probably in our Lord's mind before the feeding of
the five thousand (Matt. ix. 16).

scattered. The rulers are held responsible for the exile.
visited... visit. The play on words here made is reproduced from
the original.

3. my flock. This description seems to identify the true flock with
the exiles. For .Jeremiah's anticipations as to the fate of the Lm-d's flock
see xiii, 17; and for his judgement on the comparative merits of the
exiles and those left in the land see the allegory in xxiv. 1 ff.

/ have driven them. Cf v. 2.

folds. The Heb. word ^)}, is used in a variety of ways, both of the
abode of the shepherd himself and of his sheep (usually in a figurative
sense); in poetry it has the wider sense of ' habitation.'

4. set up. Evidently the rulers are not to be hereditary princes.

5 f These w. are rejected by Duhm, Marti and other critics^ but
their objections are over-ruled by Cornill after a very full discussion.
The way in which Zechariah makes use of the Branch as a Messianic
title (Zech. iii. 8, vi. 12) shews that by his day it had become a technical
term and this requires that some interval of time should have elapsed.

1 E.g. by Stade, Geschichte des Volkes Itr. ri. 125.

XXIII. 5-7] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 173

unto David a righteous ^Branch, and he shall reign as king and
Meal wisely, and shall execute judgement and justice in the land.
6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely :
and this is his name whereby he shall be called, ^The Lord is
our righteousness. 7 ^Therefore, behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that they shall no more say, As the Lord liveth, which

1 Or, Shoot Or, Bud ^ Or, prosper ^ Or, the Lord our righteousness
* See ch. xvi. 14, 15.

Kennett thinks that this utterance and the similar one in xxxiii. 14 ff.
are variant forms of a prophecy composed, by _. Jeremiah or one of his
disciples during the governorship of Gedaliah (Sckweick Lectures,
p. 26 n.).

5. the days come. This phrase occurs sixteen times in Jeremiah,
and but five times elsewhere; viz. Am. iv. 2, viii. 11, ix. 13; 1 S. ii. 31;
and 2 K. xx. 17 (=Is. xxxix. 6). It almost invariably occurs before an
announcement, usually in a short and striking form, of special import-
ance (cf. V. 7).

Branch. The mg. Shoot more nearly represents the meaning of the
Heb., which refers to that which sprouts from the roots, and not from
the trunk. The figure suggested is that of the stump of a tree, which
has been felled, suddenly shewing fresh life, and it is therefore w^ell suited
for the description of the ruler of a restored community.

ki7ig. Cf Is. xxxii. 1; Zech. ix. 9.

deal ivisely. Or prosper. A mark of the Servant of the Lord in
Is. lii. 13. - ~ ™ _

'K^'^udah... Israel The righteous ^mwcA is to have a mission to
both parts of the Hebrew nationj^vizT*^ air'tKe''descendants of the
original kingdom over which David ruled.

dwell safely. Cf Lev. xxvi. 5; Dt. xxxiii. 12; Hos. ii. 18.

The Lord is our righteousness. The kind's name is idealj and re-
presents the longings of the prophet and his friends (see Introd. pp.
Ixv f ). It is interesting to compare the phrase in Enoch xlvi. 3 'the Son
of man who hath righteousness' (cf Pss. Sol, xvii. 23 fif.). Driver points
out that 'in xxxiii. 16 exactly the same name is given to the ideal
Jerusalem of the future.'

7 f These vv. are very similar to xvi. 14 f and lxx. omits them
here, inserting them quite inappropriately after v. 40. There is no
real reason for their rejection as they fit quite well into their present
context, though, if the vv. are in their oi'iginal place, the displacement
in the LXX. is hard to explain.

7. they shall no more say. In times past the exodus had been the
outstanding marvel in the nation's history, and the event above all
others in which God's power and favour had been shewn to His chosen
people (cf Mic. vii. 15); but so great will be His dealings in restoring
the exiles to Zion that even the wonders of the exodus will sink into

174 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxiii. 7-9

brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8 but, As the Lord liveth, which brought uj) and which led the
seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from
all the countries whither I had driven them; and they shall
dwell in their own land.

the background. The exodus loomed large in the minds of the prophets
as being the beginning of the nation, but the restoration from captivity
was to be a still more glorious re-birth.

Chapter XXIII. 9—40.

The Denunciation of the Prophets.

Having denounced those who had led the people astray in the political
sphere, Jeremiah now deals with the faithless shepherds whose messages had
dikewise led them astray in the sphere of religion (for a discussion of the position
bf the 'false' prophets see Additional Note, pp. 182 ff.). The passage has re-
ceived drastic treatment at the hands of critics, much of which is probably
altogether too severe, for whilst there can be little doubt of the presence of
editorial or other additions, yet the greater part of the passage reads like the
genuine utterance of the prophet himself Duhm is here, as elsewhere, the most
extreme critic and rejects vv. 16 — 40; Cornill rejects vv. 24 — 40. Giesebrecht
vv. 30 — 40. It may be worthy of mention that Duhm places the date of the
composition of vv. 16 — 40 as late as the second century b.c., looking upon it as a
protest against the 'enthusiasm' of the apocalyptists.

(a) The effect of the profanity of the prophets upon Jeremiah: the
prophets of Jerusalem are worse than those of Samaria. 9 — 15.

(6) The ignorance and presumption of the prophets call forth God's
wrath. 16—20.

(c) The self-commissioned prophets do not escape God's notice. 21 — 32.

(d) What is the burden of the Lord? 33—40.

9 Concerning the prophets. Mine heart within me is broken,
all my bones shake ; I am like a drunken man, and like a man

9 — 15. Jeremiah's distress because of the falsehood and adultery
of the prophets of Jerusalem who are worse than those who caused
Samaria to err.

9. Concerning th^ prophets. For the heading cf. xlvi. 2, xlviii. 1, &c.
Mine heart ■ -hrohen. Cf. Ps. Ixix. 20 'reproachhath broken my heart.'
shake. Cf Ps. xxii. 14 'all my bones are out of joint.'
drunken man. Jeremiah applies to himself the metaphor used of
the nations in xxv. 15. The text suggests that the prophet suffers
thus on account of the message which he has to deliver.

XXIII. 9-13] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 175

whom wine hath overcome; because of the Lord, and because
of his holy words. 10 For the land is full of adulterers; for
because of ^swearing the land mourneth; the pastures of the
wilderness are dried up ; and their course is evil, and their force
is not right. 1 1 For both prophet and priest are profane ; yea,
in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the Lord.
12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery places
in the darkness : they shall be driven on, and fall therein : for I
will bring evil upon them, ^even the year of their visitation, saith
the Lord. 13 And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria ;
they prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.

^ Or, the curse ^ Or, in the year

holy ivords. The stress on holy contains an implied reproof of the
unholy prophets.

10. adulterers. The word may be taken in its literal sense, or it
may be a reference to those who worship false gods: this latter use
is generally if not invariably confined to the nation, and the former
meaning is probably the correct one here (of. xxix. 23).

swearing. Better as mg. the curse; cf Dt. xxviii. 15, xxix. 27.

tJie pastures of the wilderness. As was pointed out above (see on
ii. 2) the wilderness or desert was not an utter waste. It has been well
described by Kinglake in Eothen, p. 94. 'From those grey hills right
away to the gates of Bagdad stretched forth the mysterious "desert"
— not a pale, void, sandy track, but a land abounding in rich pastures —
a land without cities or towns, without any "respectable" people or any
"respectable" things, yet yielding its eighty thousand cavalry to the
beck of a few old men.'

11. in my house. God's bouse,. aa. well. as His name, has been dese-
crated. The abominations in the house of God are described in Ez. viii.;
they consisted amongst other things of an image of Asherah (v. 6),
totemistic animals (v. 10), weeping for Tammuz {v. 14) and sun worship
{v. 16).

12. slippery places... darkness. The combination of slipperiness and
darkness (i.e. the failure of the sight as an effective instrument of vision)
sums up the horrors and anxieties of the situation of men who, having
chosen their own way, are now being forced along it by circumstances,
to certain calamity. The punishment is long drawn out and constant
stumbles precede the final plunge to destruction. For the metaphor
cf. xiii. 16; Mic. iii. 6; Is. viii. 22; Ps. xxxv. 6, Ixxiii. 18. In Nah, i. 8
darkness itself pursues the enemies of God.

13. folly. The meaning of the Heb. word is that which is unsavoury;
cf. Job vi. 6. Is this implied in the context Tiere?

by Baal. The error which the prophets of Israel promulgated was

176 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxiii. 14-17

14 In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen an horrible
thing ; they commit adultery, and walk in lies, and they strengthen
the hands of evil-doers, that none doth return from his wicked-
ness : they are all of them become unto me as Sodom, and the
inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

15 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the
prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make
them drink the water of ^gall : for from the prophets of Jerusalem
is profaneness gone forth into all the land. 16 Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that
prophesy unto you ; they teach you vanity : they speak a vision
of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.
17 They say continually unto them "that despise me. The Lord
hath said. Ye shall have peace ; and unto every one that walketh

^ See ch. viii. 14.

^ According to the Sept,, that despise the word of the Lord, Ye (&c.

doctrinal; that of the. jtroBhets of Judab, as v. 14 ghe^.,,was also
ethical and moral.

14. The prophets led the people astray; in_ the matter of worship,
and added immorality to their false teaching; so that their sin was as
bad as that of the cities of the plain. Tauler condemned the false
mystics of his day by the selfsame test: 'No one can be free from the
observance of the law of God and the practice of virtue.'

strengthen. . evil-doers. Negatively by their neglect, and positively
!by_their example; cf Ez. xiii. 22; Rom. i. 32.

15. Seenotes on ix. 14.

16 — 20. The people are warned not to give any heed to the utter-
ances of the prophets who foretell pleasant things : their message comes
from their own hearts, and God's wrath is about to break forth upon them.

16. The immoral lives of the false prophets should have been enough
to shew the nation that they were no messengers of a righteous and
holy God. History, however, shews that people are always anxious to
recognise those who condone their sins, and who, at the same time,
bring fair promises.

teach... vanity, Heb. make yon vain, i.e. support you by false hopes.

of their own heart. Moses protested that his works had not been
doneof his 'ownmind'(Nu.xvi. 28); and Balaam was unable 'to do either
good or bad' of his 'own mind' (Nu. xxiv. 13). It is not necessary to
look upon the prophets denounced by Jeremiah as conscious deceivers,
they probably imagined that they were inspired by God, and that they
stood for the traditional teaching of the older prophets which, according
to their view of things, Jeremiah was contradicting.

17. Cf. vi. 14; andMic. iii. 11.

xxiii. 17-23] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 177

in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall
come upon you. 18 For who hath stood in the council of the
Lord, that he should perceive and hear his word? who hath
marked ^my word, and heard it? 19 Behold, the tempest of the
Lord, even Ms fury, is gone forth, yea, a whirling tempest : it
shall burst upon the head of the wicked. 20 The anger of the
Lord shall not return, until he have ^executed, and till he have
performed the intents of his heart : in the latter days ye shall
^understand it perfectly. 211 sent not these prophets, yet they
ran : I spake not unto them, yet they prophesied. 22 But if they
had stood in my council, then had they caused my people to hear
my words, and had turned them from their evil way, and from
the evil of their doings. 23 Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord,

1 Another reading is, his. - Or, done it * Or, consider

18. who hath stood &c. Eliphaz asked Job the same question,
obviously expecting an answer in the negative (Job xv. 8). Jeremiah
can hardly here intend to deny that he himself had stood in God's
council (cf. Am. iii. 7), the fulfilment of his warnings would in due
season shew that he had done so ; if the other prophets had known the
mind of the Lord they too would have warned Jerusalem against the
disasters which were coming upon her (cf. v. 22).

19 f. These vv. recur in xxx. 23 f. where they are probably original.

21 — 32. The prophets have no commission from God, and are
ignorant of His purposes; the lying dreams which they proclaim to the
people are not worthy to be placed beside the true message of God.

21. they ran. Cf. 2 S. xviii. 22.

22. my council. See on v. 18 and cf 2 Tim. iii. 16 f. for a similar
practical test of the true message of God.

23 f Various attempts have been made to interpret these vv. and
with results which differ widely from each other. (1) Taking the text
as it stands Jeremiah's question emphasises the fact that God hfar off
and not at hand; in other words it lays stress on the transcendence of
God. This doctrine was much in favour with later Judaism, and often
finds expression in OT. itself (cf 1 K. viii. 27); Is. xlv. 15 seems at
first sight also to support it and to be an utterance similar to these vv. ;
but the words 'thou art a God that hidest thyself 'were almost certainly
spoken by the heathen nations who 'had never suspected that the God
of an insignificant people like Israel was an incomparable Deliverer'
(Wade). It is however hard to see on the surface why .Jeremiah should
nave made use of this doctrine in his controversy with false prophets,
and why therefore the vv. stand in their present context. Cornill sug-
gests that Jeremiah is insisting upon God's dignity, and declaring that
He is a Being Who chooses His servants with care, and until anyone is

B. 12

178 ^ THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxiii. 23, 24

and not a God afar off? 24 Can any hide himself in secret places
that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven

called to tlie office of a prophet he cannot presume to enter into God's
presence as he might enter into his neighbour's house. The weakness
of this explanation is that, if it be accepted, v. 24 must mean that the
prophet when called cannot refuse the office or hide himself from God's
sight (cf Jon. i. 3 £f.), a warning which Jeremiah himself might once
have needed, but which would sound strange to the self-confident
prophets who were only too willing to undertake the office. (2) Keil
also follows MT. as it stands, but he manages to read into it more than
can perhaps be justified: 'A God near at hand is one whose domain
and whose knowledge do not extend far; a God afar off is one who sees
and works into the far distance.' This explanation is only valid if
a God at hand means a purely localised God Who has no knowledge of
what is happening except in His own immediate neighbourhood, a con-
ception which would hardly be entertained even by the false prophets.
(3) The only really satisfactory way of arriving at Jeremiah's meaning
is to follow Giesebrecht, and to regard lxx. as having preserved the
original text; this involves reading v. 23 not as a question but as an
affirmation: I a7n a present God and not a far-off God: Can any hide
himself from me? Cf Bt. iv. 7\ The vv. when read thus connect
quite smoothly with what goes before, the evil deeds of the prophets are
known to God and they cannot be hidden. The true prophet 'knew that
God was present in man... and it is out of the fulness of this experience
that Jeremiah declares that God is not a far-off God, but a near God
filling heaven and earth".' (Buttenwieser, op. cit. p. 147.) This view
seems to be in direct opposition to the later orthodox opinion (see
above); and there can be little doubt that, as Giesebrecht suggests, it
was for this reason that v. 23 was turned into a question, and its
teaching thus made to agree with the current Jewish conceptions.

24. The express declaration of the immanence of God is rare in OT.
(instances of it are to be found in 1 K. viii. 27; Is. Ixvi. 1; Ps. cxxxix.
7 ff.), and God is sometimes looked upon as so far separated from the
world that He has 'to come down' from hea\en to see what is hap-
pening (cf Gen. xi. 1 ff., xviii. 20 f.). Jeremiah himself had outgrown
the conception ot a God dwelling far away in the height of heaven, and
had come to look upon Him as an omnipresent spiritual Being (cf
Giesebrecht). It is, however, very doubtful whether more than a few
of the prophet's contemporaries had even risen to the idea of Jehovah
as the God of the whole universe.

Do not I fill &c. Cf Eph. iv. 10 'that he might fill all things';
Acts xvii. 24.

1 Dr Lock suggests that the questiou may be an indignant way of stating the
fact; cf. the question in xxii. 28.

2 Cf. St Cyprian, On the Lord's Prayer, iv. ' God is everywhere present, hearing
and seeing everyone, and, in the plenitude of His Majesty, penetrating even into
secluded and hidden places,'

XXIII. 24-28] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH • 179

and earth? saith the Lord. 25 I have heard what the prophets
have said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed,
I have dreamed. 26 How long shall this be in the heart of the
prophets that prophesy lies ; even the prophets of the deceit of
their own heart? 27 which think to cause my people to forget
my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neigh-
bour, as their fathers forgat my name for Baal. 28 The prophet
that hath a dream, let him tell a dream ; and he that hath my

25. / have dreamed, I have dreamed. That the Deity communi-
cated His wishes and plans by means of dreams was a widespread belief
amongst all ancient peoples. Homer looked upon 'mystic dreams from
Zeus' as a channel of prophetic inspiration {Iliad, i. 63), and Aeschylus
puts dreams first amongst such channels :

'I taught the various modes of prophecy,
What truth the dream portends,'

Prom. Vinct. 48-5 f.

whilst the confidence which even Socrates placed in their guidance is
well known (cf Apol. 33 c; Grito, 44 A; Phaedo, 60 e, &c.). Accord-
ing to the various writers of OT. dreams were frequently sent from God
both for guidance and for warning (such accounts are especially com-
mon in the document E of the Pent. ; see also Joel ii. 28 ; Job xxxiii.
14 ft", and the book of Daniel). In the later literature, in spite of the
warning of Ecclus. xxxiv. 1 — 8 that they were 'vanity,' dreams and
visions form a not uncommon vehicle for revelation (cf Enoch Ixxxiii. —
xc. ; 4 Ezra x. 59). In NT. they are also found, and are especially used
by the writer of the Infancy narratives in the first gospel (see Matt.
i. 20, ii. 12, 13 and 19: andcf Lk. i. 11, 26 if.). For a fuller discussion
of the whole question of the Jewish belief in dreams see Jew. Enc.
IV. 837. It is interesting to notice that amongst Moslems dreams are
recognised as being channels of revelation though other channels may
be more important; cf the traditional utterance of Muhammed himself
that 'dreaming is one six-aud-fortieth part of prophecy.' (See D. B.
Macdonald, Aspects of Islam, p. 188.)

26. Two emendations have been suggested in this v., the opening
of which in the Heb. is evidently corrupt. By the first Duhm would
read a third / have dreamed (cf vii. 4, xxii. 29) for Hoiv long; and
secondly Giesebrecht by dividing up the Heb. consonants differently
reads Will tlie heart of the jjrophets turn?

27. fathers. Not Samaria as in v. 13, but the people of the exodus
(cf ii. 5).

Baal. Cf note on ii. 23.

28. he that hath... faithfully. Declaring 'the whole counsel of
God,' Acts XX. 27.

12—2

180 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxiii. 28-33

word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to
the wheat? saith the Lord. 29 Is not my word like as fire?
saith the Lord ; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in
pieces ?

30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the
Lord, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. 31 Be-
hold, I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that ^use their
tongues, and say, He saith. 32 Behold, I am against them that
prophesy lying dreams, saith the Lord, and do tell them, and
cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting :
yet I sent them not, nor commanded them ; neither shall they
profit this people at all, saith the Lord. 33 And when this

1 Heb. take.

straw... to wheat. God's word is food for those who will take it;
the word of the false prophets only chaff fit for burning.

29. fire... hammer. Cf v. 14. God's word will burn up and destroy
all opposing messages. The comparison of the tongue, and that which
is spoken by it, to fire is common in Jewish literature, usually with the
idea of the harm which it may do: Ps. cxx. 4; Prov. xvi. 27; Ecclus.
xxviii, 10 ff. ; Ps. Sol. xii. 2 ff. ; and Jas. iii. 6.

30 ff. A condemnation of merely conventional utterances and
phrases, and of those who utter them. Such exponents of religion
merely weaken their own cause, and by accustoming their hearers to
the contents of the message tend to harden them against those who
preach it in all sincerity.

30. from Ms neighbour. Repeating the maxims or oracles put
forth by one another (cf. the prophets in 1 K. xxii. 6 ff.); or, possibly,
stealing the message of the true prophets and turning it in such a way
as to express peaceable tidings (cf. Hananiah, xxviii. 10).

31. tongues. The message of the false prophets was like 'a tale of
little meaning though the words were strong.' Buttenwieser makes the
interesting suggestion that there is here an early reference to the phe-
nomenon of 'speaking with tongues' which caused trouble at Corinth
(1 Cor. xiv.). Lxx. gives some amount of support to this theory, espe-
cially the reading of A, yAwo-o-iy iK^dWetv being the equivalent of ykwa-arj

XaXelv.

He saith. Evidently a prophetic formula placing the responsibility
for the utterances on God Himself

33 — 40. The burden of the Lord is the nation itself and it will be
thrown off; the very word burden is no longer to be used in Judah
since the people have profaned it by their mockery. This passage
teaches the lesson of reverence, and the sin of taking the Lord's name
or any word of sacred meaning in a vain and light sense.

XXIII. 33-38] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 181

people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What
is the burden of the Lord? then shalt thou ^say unto them,
2 What burden ! I will cast you off, saith the Lord. 34 And as
for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say,
The burden of the Lord, I will even punish that man and his
house. 35 Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and
every one to his brother. What hath the Lord answered? and.
What hath the Lord spoken? 36 And the burden of the Lord
shall ye mention no more : for every man's own word ^ shall be
his burden ; for ye have perverted the words of the living God,
of the Lord of hosts our God. 37 Thus shalt thou say to the
prophet, What hath the Lord answered thee? and. What hath
the Lord spoken? 38 But if ye say. The burden of the Lord;
therefore thus saith the Lord: Because ye say this word. The

^ Or, tell them tvhat the hurden is

2 The Sept. aud Vulgate have, Ye are the burden.

^ Or, is his burden, and ye pervert <&c.

33. burden. The Heb. word ^^^, massa, may mean either a burden
or an oracle (as in Nah. i. 1 'the burden of Nineveh'; Hab. i. 1, &c.).
The latter meaning probably arose by derivation from the former, and
represents something 'taken up' by the prophet (see on vii. 19; and
RVm. of 2 K. ix. 26 where 'uttered' is literally 'took up'). Cf. the expla-
nation offered by St .Jerome in his comment on Mai. i. 1 'The word of
the Lord is heavy, therefore it is a burden.'

What burden? Read with LXX. and Vg. Ye are the burden.. The
message of the pre-exilic prophets was constantly one of woe and con-
demnation (cf xxviii. 8f.), and that of Jeremiah was no exception.
The people tired out by his repeated prophecies of disaster, and in their
blindness refusing to believe him, looked upon his denunciations as a
fit subject for a play upon words. Hence God's indignation and the
turning of the pun against those who had made it.

34. 'The rigorous prohibition of the word "burden" is not quite
easy to understand, but apparently tlie people had by a trivial witticism,
imported into the derived sense of the word something of its primary
meaning : one may call the prophetic utterance a "burden" for it is both
heavy and wearisome. Hence the use of the word is forbidden, that such
profane misuse may be rendered impossible.' Peake.

35. answered... spoken. This v. includes requests for answers to
enquiries made by the priests, and for voluntary utterances such as
came to the prophets.

36. living God. Cf x. 10.

37. Omitted by lxx. The v. is the same as v. 35 with the excep-
tion of the substitution oi prophet for neighbour.

182 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxiii. 38-40

burden of the Lord, and I have sent unto you, saying. Ye shall not
say. The burden of the Lord ; 39 therefore, behold, I will ^utterly
forget you, and I will cast you off, and the city that I gave unto
you and to your fathers, away from my presence : 40 and I will
bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame,
which shall not be forgotten.

^ Or, according to some ancient authorities, lift you up

39. forget. The mg. lift you up is a better rendering as it preserves
the pun; the Heb. for the y&ch^ forget and lift up is practically identical
in an unpointed text.

Additional Note on xxiii. 9. ,

The False Prophets.

In considering the question of the ''false prophets' it is necessary first to
remember that in OT. the epithet is unknown, the true and the false are alike
designated by the same title of prophet. This refusal to distinguish between
the two classes almost certainly represents the views of those who were the
contemporaries of each canonical prophest, and the men of Jeremiah's day looked
upon that prophet and those who opposed him as equally accredited as the
messengers of Jehovah ; similarly the Athenians regarded Socrates as a ' sophist'
just as much as the false claimants to knowledge whom he denounced. It must
indeed have been a hard task to discriminate between the true and false spokes-
, men of the God of Israel ; all alike spoke in the name of Jehovah and used the
same formulas (cf. xxiii. 31, xxviii. 2ff. ; 1 K. xxii. 11); all alike bore the name
of prophet — though Amos disclaimed the name for himself (Am. vii. 14; but cf.
V. 15 and iii. 7); they made use of very similar methods, though the false pro-
phets, both those who prophesied in Judah (xxiii. 27 f.) and those in Babylon
(xxix. 8), seem to have placed too high a reliance on dreams and visions. How
then were men to know the true messengers from the false ? The task was not
easy and even the elect must often have been deceived (cf. Matt xxiv. 25), at
any rate for a time. The tests which Jeremiah himself proposed appear to a
modern mind to be inadequate, {a) The first mark of the genuine word of the
Lord was that it was like 'fire' or 'a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces'
(xxiii. 29), that is the true prophet will be one who is full of a divine energy.
But the energy exhibited by men like Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah (1 K.
xxii. 24), and Hananiah the son of Azzur must have seemed to the simple-minded
nothing less than inspired, and even Jeremiah was on one occasion apparently
silenced by his opponent (xxix. 11). (6) The second test was that of fulfilment
'when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be
known, that the Lord hath truly sent him' (xxviii. 9; cf. Dt. xviii. 21 f.).
This test however required the lapse of time and was an appeal to posterity

THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 183

rather than to the living generation, (c) Jeremiah's third test was really an
argument in a circle and begged the whole question ; if these prophets had
really stood in God's council they would have turned the people from their evil
doings, i.e. their teaching would have agreed Avith that of Jeremiah, the very
question which was in dispute. It is rather interesting to notice that neither
side makes any appeal to the working of signs and wonders (contrast Matt.
xxiv. 25), and that records of the performances of miracles are almost com-
pletely absent from the pages of the wi-itten prophets ; this is a point which
has not received nearly as much attention as it deserves, and anticipates our
Lord's teaching that the working of miracles is no test of truth.

Later ages always tend to pass a harsh judgement upon the sincerity of the
defeated party in any religious dispute and by branding them as heretics and
false teachers to suggest that they were inspired by selfish and perverse motives.
There have been, of course, many persons who have made claims to divine in-
spiration as a means of obtaining power or notoriety, and sometimes such men
are detected and receive a worthy punishment^; there are also those who
begin their careers with a genuine belief that they are being used as God's
messengers but who afterwards use their influence for their own private ends —
the prophet Muhammed is a striking instance of one who thus degenerated ;
but it seems probable that the majority of these so-called false prophets really
believed in the words they uttered and in the Divine authority which they
claimed for them. It is true that Jeremiah condemned their message as lies
and vain boasting (xxiii. 32), and declared that they had no commission from
Jehovah (xxiii. 21), but on the other hand they were equally ready to return
the accusation. Nor does it follow that Jeremiah was denouncing their sincerity,
rather he looked upon them as self-deceived (xxiii. 26). In another passage
where it is said that Jehovah had sent a lying vision into the hearts of the
prophets (1 K. xxii. 2-2)'', as Christians we can hardly take the phrase hterally,
the writer in accordance Tidth the Hebrew habit of thought is describing the
cause in terms of the effect ; it is the self-deception of the prophets which has
laid them open to such visions. And here we have I think the clue to the
understanding of these men ; they had a strong belief in their message : they
really held themselves to be divinely inspired and yet they were self-deceived.

Jeremiah differed from the prophets of his day mainly on three grounds,

1 There is a story told by Lord Macaulay ' about one of the French prophets
of the 17th century, who came into the Court of King's Bench, and announced
that the Holy Ghost had sent him to command Lord Holt to enter a nolle pro-
sequi. " If," said Lord Holt, "the Holy Ghost had wanted a nolle prosequi he
would have bade you apply to the Attorney-General. The Holy Ghost knows
that I cannot enter a nolle prosequi. But there is one thing which I can do, I can
lay a lying knave by the heels"; and thereupon he committed him to prison.'
Life and Letters, ii. p. 178.

2 Cf. Jas. i. 13; Plato, Eep. ii. 380 d— 383 c. The belief of earlier ages of
course regarded such visious as deliberately and directly sent from the Deity : cf.
Homer, Iliad, xxii. 296 ff. and see Adam, Rel. Teachers of Greece, p. 40. The
gradual spread of a purer idea of God's action in this regard can be seen by
comparing 2 S. xxiv. 1 and 1 Ch. xxi. 1.

184 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

those of political policy, moral teaching, and personal experience i, and it was be-
cause the 'false' prophets held preconceived ideas on these subjects and refused
to suri'ender them that they allowed themselves to be deceived. It must be
remembered that the effect of religious feeling is always to deepen and strengthen
the belief in any cause or idea to which it lends its support, and history shews
quite plainly that the causes and ideas which have been taken up by religion in
the past have not always been such as have contributed to national or social
well-being, or even to the advancement of justice and righteousness 2. In the
political sphere the false prophets were closely attached to the ruling house and
desired only to prophesy smooth things (cf. 1 K. xxii. 6ff.); they were a pro-
fessional ministry and like the poets whom Plato condemned were of the number
of those who are 'the friends of the tyrant and bask in the sunshine of his
patronage.' In the sphere of morals the false prophets, if Jeremiah is to be
believed, were distinctly culpable and indeed the leaders in sin and wickedness
(xxiii. 11 ff., xxix. 23); by their deeds they 'had closed their minds against the
deepening of the idea of God to an unconditionally ethical conception, and were
thus no longer able to penetrate into the depths of his counseP.' In the sphere
of psychological experience it would be interesting to know how the two classes
of prophets differed, but such knowledge is beyond our reach ; there is no reason
for doubting that the false prophets had religious experiences of a very deep
and compelling character and Jeremiah would not have denied the fact, but at
the same time he would have insisted that they were not inspired by Jehovah^.
When a prophet or a teacher feels that his message comes to him from some
external, supra-normal source he becomes intolerant of any opposition and even
of any rivalry, and it may be supposed with good reason that even amongst
those prophets who were banded together against Jeremiah's teaching there
would be a large measure of disagreement. One who believes himself to be the
accredited messenger of God — and especially if he is self-deceived^ooks with
little sympathy on those making similar claims even when such claimants
support him and agree with his teaching. Sir Auckland Colvin in his book
The Making of Modern Egypt relates an incident which well illustrates this
attitude of mind. Soon after the death of the Mahdi there arose one who
claimed to be the Prophet Jesus and in view of the Muhammedan belief that
Jesus is to re-appear after the coming of the Mahdi his arrival was a testimony
to the claims of the Mahdi's successor, the Khalifa. But Abdullah judged
otherwise, he declared the claimant to be a false prophet and quickly disposed
of him. Even then the Khalifa was not satisfied and he announced that in a
vision he had seen the pretender and his followers at 'an unseen depth of Hell';
'all were under the charge of black persons who tortured them in various
degrees.... They are still falling down into the depths of Hell, nor have they yet
reached the bottom.'

1 Cf. Davidson in Camb. Bible on Ezekiel, pp. 85 f.

' The same thing is true of the petitionary side of prayer in the life of the
individual, prayer may in this way do much harm to the characters of those who
use it unwisely.

» Budde, Bel. of Is. p. 131. * Cf. Hamilton, The People of God, i. p. 141,

IV. r-3] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH ~ 185

Chapter XXIV.
The Tivo Baskets of Figs.

In 597 Nebuchadrezzar carried Jehoiachin and the best of the nation into
captivity in Babylon. Those who remained behind attributed their escape to
their superior virtue and merit. In this ch. Jeremiah gives a very diflferent
estimate of the two communities in the sight of God, and in this judgement he
is supported by Ezekiel (cf. xii., xx. 37 ff. &c.). There is an ancient Jewish
tradition, that at the time of the return from exile the best of the people stayed
behind in Babylon. 'The flour remained at Babylon, the chaff came to Palestine.'
The choice of the figure was probably suggested by Jeremiah's usage. For
further details of the relations between the exiles and those who remained
behind see Additional Note, pp. 222 f.

(a) The prophet describes his vision. 1 — 3,
(6) The meaning of the vision. 4 — 10.

XXIV. 1 The Lord shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of
figs set before the temple of the Lord ; after that Nebuchadrezzar
king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of
Jehoiakim, king of Jiidah, and the princes of Judah, with the
craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to
Babylon. 2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs that
are first ripe: and the other basket had very bad figs, which
could not be eaten, they were so bad. 3 Then said the Lord
unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah ? And I said, Figs ; the good
figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten,

XXIV. 1—3. The vision of the figs.

1. before the temple. The mention of the exact spot suggests that
Jeremiah actually saw the baskets, though Cornill rejects the clause on
the ground that Jeremiah does not elsewhere use ^^''H for temple, and
if the figs were intended as an offering, none but those fruits which
were first-ripe were in accordance with the law (Dt. xxvi. 2). The
somewhat similar vision of 'the summer-fruit' in Am. viii. 1 may have
influenced the choice of the symbol (see further, Introd. pp. Ixx f).

smiths. The exact meaning of the Heb. is not known.

2. figs that are first ripe. The first ripe figs can be gathered in
June, and they are valued not only on account of their early appearing
(the normal time for gathering figs being August), but for their superior
flavour. The Heb. word htid^ occurs elsewhere only in Hos. ix. 10;
Mic. vii. 4 ; Is. xxviii. 4 ; the same root is found in the Spanish alba-
cora which is evidently borrowed from the Moors.

3. What seest thou^ Cf note on i. 11.

186 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxiv. 3-10

they are so bad. 4 And the word of the Lord came unto me,
saying, 5 Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Like these
good figs, so will I regard the captives of Judah, whom I have
sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.
6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring
them again to this land : and I will build them, and not pull them
down ; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. 7 And I
will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord : and
they shall be my people, and I will be their God : for they shall
return unto me with their whole heart. 8 And as the bad figs,
which cannot be eaten, they are so bad; surely thus saith the
Lord, So will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his
princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land,
and them that dwell in the land of Egypt : 9 I will even give
them up to be ^tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the
earth for evil ; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a
curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. 10 And I will
send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till
they be consumed from off" the land that I gave unto them and
to their fathers.

^ Or, a terror unto

4 — 10. The interpretation of the vision.

5. for good. Cf. xiv. 11. The state of those who had been carried
away during the first deportation would be enviable when contrasted
with all the horrors which the remnant would have to endure.

7. heart to know me. Cf. xxxi. 33, xxxii. 39 f ; Ez. ii. 19.

8. Egypt. The mention of Egypt is rather strange because no
Jewish colony is known to have settled there until a much later date\
At the same time Egypt was always a convenient place of refuge for
any who wished to esca])e from the Babylonian rule, and very probably
other Jews were taken into exile along with Jehoahaz (2 K. xxiii. 34).
Hosea had already threatened those who went down to Egypt that it
would be their grave (ix. 9).

9. to be...a pronerh. A common phrase in OT. (Dt. xxviii. 37;
Job xvii. 6, &c.); cf Wisd. v. 3 and see on xxvi. 6.

1 See Additional Note, pp. 315 f.

THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

187

Chapter XXV.
The Punishment of the Nations.

At first sight this ch. as it is contained in EVV. looks straightforward
enough ; the section called by Ewald the Roll of Zedekiah ended Avith xxiv.,
and a new section is opened which returns once more to the reign of Jehoiakim.
Jeremiah recapitulates his prophecies against the people, and to add vividness
to his warnings he is permitted to state the actual length of the captivity and
of the supremacy of Babylon. He then goes on, by the use of the figure of the
cup of God's fury, to amplify the warning to the nations round about Judah,
returning at the close of the ch. to his own people and the fate which will befall
them together with all flesh. On turning to lxx. however the ch. is seen to be
full of difiicult problems, and its unity and simplicity are destroyed. The
most striking change which the lxx. has made is the insertion, immediately
after v. 13, of the chh. numbered xlvi. — li. in the Heb. and EVV. That a
close connexion exists between xxv. and xlvi. — li. is obvious to even a casual
reader ; both deal with the same peoples though in a somewhat difl"erent order \
in xlvi. — li. the Heb. is nearer than the lxx. to the summary in xxv. 19 fi".
Again vv. 1 — 13 form a suitable introduction to a series of oracles on foreign
nations, and v. 13 actually mentions a book of words pronounced against
Babylon which seems to be a reference to 1. — li. Duhm considers that the hook
to which these cv. (so far as they are genuine) were attached was the original
form of the roll dictated to Baruch (xxxvi.). Comill finds traces of a revision
which these vv. have undergone in order to make them suitable for an intro-
duction (following Schwally, ZATW. 1888, pp. 177 ft'.); and he further points
out, with much insight, that the only appropriate place for the insertion of
xlvi. — li. is after the figm-e of the cup and not before it. In his opinion this
was the original position of the chh., and he thinks that when Jeremiah's
prophecy of the wi-ath of God was not fulfilled by events, the oracles were
banished to the end of the collection, and their cioide historical forecasts were
given a vaguer and more apocalyptic tinge. It seems almost certain therefore
that the arrangement of lxx. is not the original one, as in addition to the
argimients mentioned above, the efi'ect of it is to divide up xxv. (which has
every appearance of being a unity) into two distinct sections.

1 The following is the order of the nations in the different lists :

xxv.

xlvi. — 11. Heb.

xlvi. — li. LXX.

1. Egypt

Egypt

Elam

2. (Uz)

Philistines

Egypt

3. Philistines

Tyre and Sidon

Babylon

4. Edom

Moab

Philistines

5. Moab

Ammon

Edom

6. Ammon

Edom

Ammon

7. Tyre, &c.

Damascus

Kedar and Hazor

8. Dedan, Tema,

&c.

Kedar and Hazor

Damascus

9. Elam and the Medes

Elam

Moab

10, Babylon

Babylon

188 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxv. 1-4

The question then remains— Is xxv. the genuine work of Jeremiah at all ?
and naturally enough it has received a variety of answers. Schwally rejects
m. 1—13 as being too general and abstract in tone; and also because there is
no mention in them of Jeremiah's constant teaching of the possibijlity of re-
pentance. In reply to this Cornill points out that in this passage the prophet
is dealing, not with Judah alone, but with the surrounding nations also, and
that therefore the preaching of penitence is not so appropriate ; Jeremiah
evidently shared in what must have been the common opinion that Nebuchad-
rezzar would make full use of his victory to the subjugation of the whole of
Syria. Schwally also rejects vv. 15—31 on the somewhat arbitrary ground that
Jeremiah was not a prophet to the nations (cf pp. 1 f ). Most other critics
are not so sweeping in the application of their methods, and it is best to con-
clude with Giesebrecht and Cornill that the ch. as a whole is the genuine work
of Jeremiah although it has received various later additions.

(a) JudaNs obstinacy is about to he punished. 1 — 7.
(6) The coining triumph and overthrow of Babylon. 8—14.
(c) The nations shall be made to drink of the wine of God's fury. 1 5 — 29.
{d) God toill come like a lion against Judah and all the peoples of the
earth. 30—38.

XXV. 1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the
people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah,
king of Judah ; the same was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar
king of Babylon ; 2 the which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto
all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
saying : 3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon,
king of Judah, even unto this day, these three and twenty years,
the word of the Lord hath come unto me, and I have spoken
unto you, rising up early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.
4 And the Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets,

XXV. 1—14. After the battle of Carchemish in 605 the
Chaldeans became supreme in Western Asia, and Jeremiah accordingly
advises Judah and the surrounding nations that they too will have to
submit to the same power. At the end of seventy years Babylon her-
self shall be made desolate.

1. fourth year &c. The somewhat elaborate synchronism in the
second half of the v. is not found in lxx. and is therefore open to
suspicion; moreover it apparently conflicts with the statement in
xlvi. 2 that Carchemish was fought in this very year, and therefore
before Nebuchadrezzar had actually succeeded to the throne of Babylon.

3. the thh'teentk year of Josiah. The year of Jeremiah's call.

4. This V. should almost certainly be rejected on account of the
sudden change of speaker, together with the unsuitability of the sub-

XXV. 4-io] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 189

rising up .early and sending them ; but ye have not hearkened,
nor inclined your ear to hear ; 5 saying, Return ye now every
one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and
dwell in the land that the Lord hath given unto you and to your
fathers, from of old and even for evermore : 6 and go not after
other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me
not to anger with the work of your hands ; and I will do you no
hurt. 7 Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the Lord;
that ye might provoke me to anger with the work of your hands
to your own hurt. 8 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts:
Because ye have not heard my words, 9 behold, I will send and
take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and / will send
unto Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will
bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants there-
of, and against all these nations round about; and I will Utterly
destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing,
and perpetual desolations. 10 Moreover I will ^take from them
the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the

^ Heb. devote. ^ Heb. cause to perish from them.

ject matter— as Cornill says, the real offence was not ignoring the
warnings of the earlier prophets but of Jeremiah himself — and the
awkwardness of the grammar.

rising up early. He who ' neither slumbers nor sleeps ' can hardly
be said to rise early ; the expression means as in Ps. Ixiii. 1 to make
the action in question the chief object of His attention.

7. to your own hurt. God plans good things for His children,
evil comes upon them as a consequence of their own folly (cf vii. 6,
xxiv. 6).

8 — 14. The triumph and destruction of Babylon.

9. my servant. The conception of a heathen monarch as the
servant of Jehovah, and that in order to destroy His own people,
presented a hard problem to the pious Jew (cf. Hab. i. 6 ff. ; Am. vi.
14). Lxx. omits the title here and elsewhere, doubtless because it was
felt that it could not rightly be applied to an idolater. The same
designation was also applied to Cyrus (Is. xliv. 28, xlviii. 14, &c.) who
not only was not a worshipper of Jehovah, but one who attributed his
victories, possibly for reasons of policy, to Bel and to Marduk 'his
friend and companion ' (see Sayce, Higher Criticism &c. p. 505).

10. The first part of this v. is similar to vii. 34; the later half
makes a sinister addition, ' not merely every sound of joyfulness, but
even every sign of life ' is to be cut off.

190 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxv. lo-i,

bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones,
and the light of the caudle. 1 1 And this whole land shall be a
desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve
the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 And it shall come to pass,

millstones. The sound of the mill is 'heard daily in an eastern
village, and is a sign of the presence of life in it (cf Rev. xviii. 22).
The iiand-mill... consists of two circular stones, eighteen inches or two
feet in diameter, the lower one being fixed to the ground, while the
upper one is turned round by a woman... kneeling or sitting beside it.'
DriverX

11. these nations... Babylon. LXX. omits these and the king of
Babylon and inserts among before nations: thus reading they shall
serve among the nations. This reading probably represents the original
Heb. text, though serve when it is used with a preposition usually
means make to serve, i.e. enslave.

seventy years. This number need not be taken as an exact estimate
of the length of the captivity as the same period is used in a prophecy
from the reign of Zedekiah (xxix. 10), nor would it agree exactly with
the actual history. Jeremiah's desire was to impress upon the people
that no immediate return was to be looked for and so he makes use of
an approximate figure which had a symbolical significance ; Keil points
out that 7 according to the Jews represents the perfection of God's
work and 10 the perfection of human work. The writer of Chronicles
regarded the seventy years as a punishment for the neglect of the
sabbatic years (2 Ch. xxxvi. 21). Many critics reject the Jeremianic
authorship of the prediction, Duhm, for example, considering that it
was based on Zech. i. 12 'how long wilt thou not have mercy on
Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against whom thou hast had
indignation these threescore and ten years?'

12 — 14. These vv. seem out of place in their present context as
there is no point in making a warning to Babylon part of the prophecy
on the surrounding nations; the oracle in 1. — li. 58 is almost certainly
not from Jeremiah and it seems to be pre-supposed by the writer of
these vv. The sudden change into the third person in the middle of
an utterance is very suspicious {v. 13 which Jeremiah hath prophesied).
Most scholars have rejected the passage in whole or in part as a later
insertion. It must be confessed that vv. 15fi". follow quite smoothly
on V. 11 though possibly v. 13a is genuine and ought to be included.
In LXX. the oracles on the nations come immediately after v. 13.

1 The reading of lxx. hcixy\v /jLvpov the smell of ointment for DTI") ?)\) the sound
(lit. voice) of the millstones is interesting. The usual explanation is that a double
corruption has taken place, fj.^'Kov has Joecome fivpov and DTI"! has been divided up
into nn, which is elsewhere translated by d(Xfj.ri when it bears this meaning, and
lb (see Cornill however on this suggestion). At the same time it is possible that
da-fj.-Tji' is a corruption of q.a-/ji.a.

XXV. 12-15] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 191

when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king
of Babylon, and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity,
and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it ^desolate for
ever. 13 And I will bring upon that land all my words which
I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this
book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
14 For many nations and great kings -shall serve themselves of
them, even of them : and I will recompense them according to
their deeds, and according to the work of their hands.

15 For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto me : Take
the cup of the wine of this fury at my hand, and cause all the

^ Heb. everlasting desolations. - Or, have served themselves or, made bondmen

12. / will punish. . .Babylon. The lesson of these vv., whoever
may have written them, is that no amount of service in the past can
save a nation or an individual from the consequences of sin in the
present. Even those who can claim to have cast out devils in our
Lord's name may find themselves outside His kingdom (cf. Matt. vii.
22 f.).

14. This V. is absent from lxx. ; it seems to be derived from
xxvii. 7, and 1. 29, H. 24.

15 — 29. The nations are to drink of the wine-cup of the fury of
the Lord. The passage has been rejected by some schnlars (see Introd.
to the section), but there can be but little doubt that, though it may
contain later additions, as a whole it comes from the prophet himself.
LXX. gives the clue to some of these later insertions (see on v. 18).

15. cup. The use of the symbol of the cup to represent a bitter
and trying experience is common in OT. (cf Ps. xi. G, Ixxv. 8; Is. li.
17 ; Ez. xxiii. 31 f &c.), though in some passages the cup is not actually
mentioned (Job xxi. 20; Ps. Ix. 3; Obad. 16). In NT. the use is
sanctified by our blessed Lord Himself in the agony in the garden
(Mk. xiv. 36); and it also appears in Rev. xiv. 8, xvii. 2, 4, xviii. 3.
Dr Wade in commenting on Is. li. 17 suggests a comparison to Homer,
Iliad, XXIV. 527 8oloI yap re ttlOol Kara/cetarat iv Atos ovSei Suipwv ola
Si8wcrt KaK(Zv, 'inpo^ 6e kamv^.

this fury. The ivine is the wrath of God which is poured out upon
the nations. Intoxication is a very apt ' figure for the bewilderment
and helplessness produced... by an overwhelming calamity.'

^ An interesting use of the same figure is to be found in the vision of Friar
James of La Massa {The Little Flowers of St Francis, ch. xLviir.), though it is there
used as a symbol, not of the fury of the Lord, but of His grace. 'And thereafter
he beheld Christ seated on a pure white throne exceeding great, whereunto Christ
called St Francis and gave him a cup, full of the spirit of life, and sent him forth,
saying, " Go and visit thy friars and give them to drink of this cup of the spirit of
life." '

192 THE BOOKiOF JEREMIAH [xxv. 15-10

nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. 16 And they shall
drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad, because of the sword that
I will send among them. 17 Then took I the cup at the Lord's
hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the Lord
had sent me : 18 to ivit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and
the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a deso-
lation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse ; as it is this day ;
19 Pliaraoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and
all his people ; 20 and all the mingled people, and all the kings
of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines,

16. the sword &c. Duhin would omit these words as a piece of
literalism.

17. Then took I the cup. It has been suggested by commentators
who strive to preserve the literal meaning of the prophetic writings at
any cost, that Jeremiah actually handed the cup to representatives of
the various nations enumerated in the passage; such a conception is
quite unnecessary and indeed entirely unworthy. Cf. Keil 'as the
wrath of God is no essence which may be drunk by the bodily act, so
manifestly the cup is no material one.'

18 — 26. If the text of lxx. can here be relied on, additions were
evidently made to the list of nations at a comparatively late date, and
indeed there must have been a great temptation to a scribe to add
a present enemy to an ancient list of nations who were to be punished.
LXX. omits all the kings of the land of Uz (v. 20), either all the kings
of Arabia or all the kings of the mingled people {v. 24), and all the
kings of Zimri {v. 25). It is noticeable that all these omissions by lxx.
contain the phrase ' all the kings of and Giesebrecht followed by Cornill
would exclude the other nations so introduced.

18. as it is this day. Omitted by lxx., and evidently an exilic
gloss. Cornill thinks that Pharaoh originally headed the list as being
the first to suffer from the might of Babylon.

20. mingled people. Foreigners resident in Egypt for purposes of
trade &c. In later times the word became a synonym for the Gentiles —
cf Ps. Sol. xvii. 17 'the child of the covenant in the midst of the
mingled peoples.'

land of Uz. Cf Gen. x. 23, xxii. 21, ^c. In Lam. iv. 21 there is
a possible reference to this v. The exact content of the phrase is some-
what doubtful, cf W. Robertson Smith's note in Kinship &c. p. 260 f,
and Bishop Gibson's note on Job i. 1.

kings of ..the Philistines. The use is strange because the Philisti7ies
were ruled by ' lords ' — cf however 1 S. xxi. 10 ' Achish, king of
Gath,' and parallel expressions in the Assyrian inscriptions. It is
probable that the whole phrase ought to be omitted with Giesebrecht
(see above), as the cities themselves are mentioned in detail, with the

XXV. 20-26] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 193

and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod ;
21 Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon ; 22 and all
the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of
the Msle which is beyond the sea; 23 Dedan, and Tema, and
Buz, and all that have the corners of their hair polled; 24 and
all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people
that dwell in the wilderness ; 25 and all the kings of Zimri, and
all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes ; 26 and
all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another ; and
all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the

1 Or, coastland

exception of Gath (cf. Am. i. 6 — 8 ; Zeph. ii. 4 ; Zech. ix. 5 f. ; and see
Bliss and Macalister, Excavations in Palestine, pp. 63 — 65). Ekron
(modern 'Akir) was, until the recent war, the site of a flourishing
Jewish colony ; no trace of the old town now exists.

the remnant of Ashdod. Ashdod is probably spoken of as a remnant
because of its sufferings during the long siege by Psammetichus I
(reigned 666 — 610 B.C.) which lasted for twenty-nine years (Herodotus
n. 157, cf. however Zeph. ii. 4).

22. the isle which is beyond the sea. Better (cf mg.) coastlajid, with
a possible reference to the Phoenician colonies. In some of the in-
scriptions on the older Egyptian tombs there are references to certain
Mediterranean rulers who are styled ' princes of the Isles in the midst
of the Great Green Sea.'

23. Dedan. A north Arabian tribe descended from Abraham.
See Driver's note on Gen. x. 7.

Tema. Mentioned with Dedan in Is. xxi. 13 f
Buz. See Gen. xxii. 21 (with Driver's note); Job xxxii. 2; and cf.
Delitzsch, Parad. p. 307.

corners... polled. See on ix. 26.

24. In the unpointed Heb. text Arabia and mingled people are
the same, and probably one of them should be omitted (so Lxx.). It
must be remembered that in OT. the term Arabia represents a much
more restricted area than in later usage : cf. Enc. Bib. 272.

25. Zimri. This name is not found elsewhere as the name of a
people and lxx. omits. It has sometimes been identified with Zimran
in Gen. xxv. 2, which Driver thinks may be Za/Spa/x, ' the capital of an
Arabian tribe, W. of Mecca ' ; or again it may be Se/A^ptrat in Ethiopia
mentioned by Strabo xvii. i. 786. Duhm thinks that the word
conceals a reference to the Romans and that it is therefore a very late
insertion. See also ZATW. 1914, p. 64.

Elam. See on xlix. 34. Elam lay to the E. of Babylon and NE.
of the Persian Gulf.

the Medes. See on Ii. 11. Media lay to the N. of Elam.
B. 13

194 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxv. 26-30

earth : and the king of ^ Sheshach shall drink after them. 27 And
thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the I>ord of hosts, the God
of Israel : Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise
no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand
to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of
hosts : Ye shall surely drink. 29 For, lo, I begin to work evil
at the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly
unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a
sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of
hosts. 30 Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words,
and say unto them. The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter
his voice fi'om his holy habitation ; he shall mightily roar against
his ^fold; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grarpes,

1 According to ancient tradition, a cypher for Babel. See oh. li. 41.
^ Or, pasture

26. Sheshach. The consonants of this word in Heb. are S S K and
by the system of cypher- writing known as Atbash^ — in which the last
letter of the alphabet is substituted for the first, the next to the last
for the second, and so on — they correspond to the letters B B L ; i.e.
Babel (see however an article in ZATW. 1914, p. 64). The use of
this method of writing is probably late (other instances of it occur in
li. 1, 41) and the clause is absent from lxx.

27 — 29. These vv. are evidently out of their context as the Lord
is suddenly introduced as the speaker without any warning and the
' drinking ' by the nations has apparently not yet taken place.

29. Judgement must begin at the house of God (cf. Ez. ix. 6);
but this is a pledge that others will not escape.

called hy my name. See on vii. 10; and cf. 1 Pet. iv. 17.

30 — 38. God will come like a lion against all the peoples of the
earth. This passage resumes a more poetic style but at the same time
its genuineness is more than doubtful owing to its eschatological outlook
and lack of originality.

30. The Lord shall roar. Cf. Am. i. 2; Joel iii. 16. He will come
as a lion against His own people (cf Hos. v. 14) as well as against the
rest of the world.

on high. From heaven, not, as in the passages quoted above, from
Jerusalem. Cf. Dante, Par ad. xxvii. 143 ' these heavenly spheres shall
roar so loud.'

holy habitation. Cf. Dt. xxvi. 15; Ps. Ixviii. 5.

fold. The same Heb. word is translated ' habitation ' in x. 25. In
this context it represents the place or pasture (cf. mg.) where the Lord's
own flock is feeding (cf. xxiii. 3).

shout. The word may be used of the ' battle-cry ' as well as of the

XXV. 30-37] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 195

against all the inhabitants of the earth. 31 A noise shall come
even to the end of the earth ; for the Lord hath a controversy
with the nations, he will plead with all flesh ; as for the wicked,
he will give them to the sword, saith the Lord.

32 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth
from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall be raised up
from the uttermost parts of the earth. 33 And the slain of the
Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto
the other end of the earth : they shall not be lamented, neither
gathered, nor buried ; they shall be dung upon the face of the
ground. 34 Howl, ye shepherds, and cry ; and wallow yourselves i
in ashes, ye principal of the flock : for the days of your slaughter
are fully come, ^and I will break you in pieces, and ye shall fall
like a pleasant vessel. 35 And ^the shepherds shall have no
way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape. 36 A voice
of the cry of the shepherds, and the howling of the principal of
the flock ! for the Lord layeth waste their pasture. 37 And the

^ Or, and I icill disperse you Many ancient versions read, and your dispersions.
2 Heh. Jlight sltall perish from the shepherds, and escape from dtc.

shout of those who gather the grapes, hence the play on the word in
xlviii. 33. The same metaphor of the vintage to represent the slaughter
of God's enemies is used in Is. Ixiii. 1 — 6.

31. Cf. Is. iii. 13 f., Ixvi. 6.
plead, i.e. contend; cf. Joel iii. 2.

all flesh. This term is generally used with the idea of laying stress
on the frailty of mankind in comparison with God (cf. xvii. 5).

32. Judgement shall come suddenly, like a storm rising from the
sea (cf. 1 K. xviii. 44 f), which gradually sweeps over all nations.

33. the slain of the Lord. The same phrase is used in Is. Ixvi. 16.

34. The first half of the v. preserves the figure of the flock suggested
hy V. 30 ; in the second half the simile of the broken vessel — of which
Jeremiah was very fond — is suddenly introduced, only to be dropped in
the following v. lxx. by a slightly different reading of the Heb. sub-
stitutes rams for vessel, and Duhm adopts the rendering, and by another
slight change reads of slaughter for pleasant (cf . Zech. xi. 4).

wallow. Better sprinkle as in vi. 26.

principal. Yieh. majestic ones: the chief citizens.

fall. Cf li. 7 f ' ./

35. Cf Am. ii. 14.

36 fF. Cf. Zech. xi. 3 'A voice of the howling of the shepherds ! for
their glory is spoiled : a voice of the roaring of young lions ! for the
pride of Jordan is spoiled.'

13—2

196 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxv. 37-xxvi. i

peaceable folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger
of the Lord. 38 He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion : for
their land is become an astonishment because of Hhe fierceness
of the oppressing sword, and because of his fierce anger.

1 Or, according to some ancient authorities, the oppressing sword See eh. xlvi. 16.

38. This V. returns to the figure with which the passage began —
the Lord will come up like a lion disturbed from its lair.

the ^fierceness of the oppressi7ig sword. There is probably no need to
supply sward in the text as by a small emendation the Heb. for fierceness
{nn may be read as nin sivord (so mg. following lxx.; cf xlvi. 16).

Chapter XXVL

Jeremiah's Warning and its Consequences.

Ill this ch. the prophet warns the people, with solemn force, that unless they
amend their ways and their doings the fate which befell Shiloh will come upon
Jerusalem. The occasion of the sermon is i)robably the same as that of vii.
(see Introd. to that ch.) ; there the contents of the sermon are preserved, here
the results which followed upon the prophet's boldness. The earlier record
may be part of the roll read to Jehoiakini, and for this reason it contained
only the main facts. The present ch. is written more from Jeremiah's own point
of view and therefore goes into greater detail ; its great value lies in its being
an instance of that opposition against which the projihet was ever contending,
and which weighed upon his sensitive soul until his life became a burden to
him. The record probably comes from Baruch and its genuineness can hardly
be questioned.

{a) The teaming. 1 — 6.

(6) The indignation of priests and prophets. 7 — 9.

(c) The intervention of the princes and the people. 10—16.

{d) The appeal to history. 17 — 19.

{e) The fate of Uriah. 20—24.

XXVI . 1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son
of Josiah, king of Judah, came this vrord from the Lord, saying,

XXVI. 1 — 6. Jeremiah's public warning from the temple court.

1. beginning. The dating of events is characteristic of those parts
of the book which are generally attributed to Baruch. Duhm thinks
that the warning may have been given at Jehoiakim's coronation, but
such an occasion would surely have received special mention, and
Jeremiah would hardly have declared his message in terms so uncom-
promising before events had had time to develop.

XXVI. 2-7] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 197

2 Thus saith the Lord : Stand in the court of the Lord's house,
and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship
in the Lord's house, all the words that I command thee to speak
unto them; keep not back a word. 3 It may be they will hearken,
and turn every man from his evil way ; that I may repent me of
the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of
their doings. 4 And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the
Lord : If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I
have set before you, 5 to hearken to the words of my servants
the prophets, whom I send unto you, even rising up early and
sending them, but ye have not hearkened ; 6 then will I make
this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the
nations of the earth. 7 And the priests and the prophets and

2. the court &c. The outer court where the people would be
gathered together, so in xix. 14.

keep not back a word. Heb. diminish, the word used in Ex. v. 8, 19
of the tale of bricks. .Jeremiah, in view of the danger of his task, needed
the renewal of the warning which had accompanied his call ' speak to
them all that I shall command you' (i. 17). The idea is the same as
that which underlies Rev. xxii. 19, where a curse is pronounced against
anyone who 'shall take away from the words of the book of this
prophecy.'

3. every man. The stress on the individual is characteristic of
Jeremiah.

repent. God's condemnations are always conditional, if the guilty
repent God will forbear. See on xviii. 8 (cf v. 13); Ez. xviii. 21fif. ;
'and its most beautiful expression in the Book of Jonah' (Peake).

purpose. The failure to repent will be followed by a speedy judge-
ment; cf Rev. ii. 5.

4 — 6. These m\ are rejected by Duhm as being too 'legal'; cf
ix. 12 f. Peake, however, defends their genuineness on the ground that
Jeremiah would distinguish between the ceremonial and the moral re-
quirements of the law.

6. Shiloh. See note on vii. 12.

a curse. The city will become a by- word for ill-fortune, just as
Abraham was a by-word for good (Gen. xii. 3). Judah is not to remain
a curse for ever : ' It shall come to pass that as ye were a curse among
the nations, 0 house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you
and ye shall be a blessing' (Zech. viii. 13).

7 — 9. The indignation of priests and prophets.

7. the prophets. That is those prophets who discredited all fore-
casts of coming evil; lxx. makes a clear distinction between them and
Jeremiah by inserting 'false' here and in w. 8, 11, and 16.

198 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxvi. 7-1^-

all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house
of the Lord. 8 And it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made
an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to
speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and
all the people laid hold on him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.
9 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying.
This house shall be Hke Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate,
without inhabitant? And all the people were gathered unto
Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

10 And when the princes of Judah heard these things, they
came up from the king's house unto the house of the Lord ; and
they sat in the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house. 1 1 Then
spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the
people, saying, This man is worthy of death; for he hath pro-
phesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears. 12 Then

8. made an end. Jeremiah was allowed to finish his discourse, not
because men were cut to the heart by his words, but simply because,
until the end, he was following the conventional lines of denunciation
laid down by his predecessors ; when however he began to attack the
temple worship, as he did at the close of his sermon, the indignation of
the priests and their allies broke forth (cf Introd. pp. xxxif).

all the people. These words should probably be omitted as a mis-
taken repetition from the previous v., in vv. 11 ff. the people are looked
upon as being in some sense judges between the prophet and his accusers.
At the same time the ease with which a crowd will change sides must
not be forgotten, the people may have been carried away, by what they
thought to be blasphemy, to make an onslaught on Jeremiah, in much
the same way as their descendants attacked St Stephen (Acts vii. 54 ff.);
later on, finding that the princes were disposed to look upon the case
as by no means so obvious and clear an offence as did the priests, their
sympathies may have veered round in the prophet's favour.

9. in tlie name of the Lord. The prophet's utterances were a direct
contradiction of the popular conception of Jehovah in whose name he
claimed to speak, hence the gravity of his offence (see on v. 16).

10 — 16. The intervention of the princes and the people.

10. the princes of Judah. The intervention of the princes probably
saved Jeremiah's life and rescued him from a situation in which there
was every prospect of his anticipating the fate of St Stephen.

the new gate. So called in xxxvi. 10; it may be that this gate was
the one made by Jotham some hundred years before (2 K. xv. 35) ; it
is generally identified with ' the upper gate ' mentioned in xx. 2.

12 — 15. The simplicity and noble courage which Jeremiah shewed
when brought face to face with his accusers are strikingly similar to the

XXVI. i2-,6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 199

spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying,
The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against
this city all the words that ye have heard. 13 Therefore now
amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the
Lord your God ; and the Lord will repent him of the evil that
he hath pronounced against you. 14 But as for me, behold, I
am in your hand : do with me as is good and right in your eyes.
15 Only know ye for certain that, if ye put me to death, ye shall
bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and
upon the inhabitants thereof : for of a truth the Lord hath sent
me unto you to speak all these words in your ears. 16 Then
said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the
prophets : This man is not worthy of death ; for he hath spoken

conduct of Socrates on a like occasion. Cf especially his fear that the
consequences of the crime which they are committing unwittingly may
fall upon them, with a like anxiety on the part of Socrates {Apol. Socr.
30 D ff.). Jeremiah's apologia is a straightforward reply to the charge
made against him ; he does not shirk the consequences of his own acts,
nor wish to tone down the denunciations which he had levelled at the
heads of the people. ' In a sentence he reaffirms his claim to have been
charged by God with the message he has just delivered. He renews his
exhortation to amendment, and promises that judgement will then be
averted. Of his own case he speaks neither with heroics nor unmanly
entreaty. He recognises the legal right of the tribunal to execute him,
and confronts the prospect without theatrical defiance on the one hand
or abject cowardice on the other, but with a serene expression of willing-
ness to accept the verdict his judges pronounce. Only he would be doing
less than his duty were he so proudly to refuse all comment on his own
case, that he failed to point out what a crime they would commit in
slaying one, whose only fault had been his faithfulness in executing the
commission his God and theirs had given him. It is a great scene which
here passes before us, in which the prophet's bearing is wholly worthy
of himself, and in which we do well to observe his unshaken conviction
that his message had been entrusted to him by God Himself Peake.

13. amend your ways. The accused, as Giesebrecht points out,
here becomes the accuser.

14. as for me. Jeremiah derives courage from the greatness of his
cause ; his is only a single life ; the contest is not really between himself
and his accusers, but between good and evil, right and wrong, God and
the powers of darkness. He forgets himself in realising God.

15. innocent blood. Cf Matt, xxvii. 24 f

16. This man is not worthy of death. According to RV. the princes
and the people recognise the justice of Jeremiah's plea, and the authority
of his message. Dr Buttenwieser, however, thinks that the result of the

200 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxvi. 16-18

to us in the name of the Lord oui- God. 17 Then rose up certain
of the eklers of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the
people, saying, 18 ^Micaiah the Morashtite prophesied in the

1 Another reading is, Micah. See Micah i. 1.

trial was not the acquittal, but the condemnation of the prophet; hence
the attempt of the elders (otherwise quite unnecessary) to secure his
escape ; and also the statement that but for the protection of Ahikam
Jeremiah would have met the fate of Uriah (v. 24). He thinks that
Jeremiah was condemned because he had broken the law of Dt. xviii.
15 — 22 by delivering what was obviously a false message in the name
of the Lord; he would therefore translate this v. 'Verily this man
deserves the death-penalty because he hath spoken unto us in the name
of YHWH our God.' He justifies his translation by claiming that it
requires no change in the consonantal text^ The suggestion is an in-
teresting one and helps to explain some of the difficulties of the passage,
but it must be remembered that some scholars are of the opinion that
this law is of a later date than Jeremiah (see Introd. p. Ixxxvi ; and
of Marti on Dt. xviii. 15 — 22, and A. F. Puukko, Das Deuteronomium
(1910), pp. 254 flf.), and it seems somewhat strange that the prophet
should have put forth as his defence what he must have known to be
the very grounds upon which he was accused. I have further criticised
this theory elsewhere^.

17 — 19. The appeal to history. The comparison of Jerusalem to
Shiloh made by Jeremiah is now imitated by the elders in comparing
the prophet himself to Micah.

17. elders of the land. The elders were an important body in ancient
Israel (see Enc. Bib. 1906 ff., 2717 £ ; Benzinger, Arch. §§ 41 ff. ; Nowack,
Arch. I. pp. 300 ff.) though it is not possible to distinguish between the
various classes of elders or even to know whether titles such as that
used here represent any distinction (cf xix. 1, &c.). Dr Peake suggests
that the phrase merely refers to the age of the speakers, that they were
aged country folk who ' related the story of Micah's drastic prediction
as it had come down to them in their traditions.'

18. Micaiah. Mg. Micah the spelling of the canonical book. The
shorter form is probably a contraction of the longer which means ' Who
is hke Yahweh ? ' (cf Michael), though Dr G. B. Gray thinks that it may
mean simply 'Who is like (this child)?' and is complete in itself; see
Hebr. Proper Names, p. 157.

1 ' The only change required in verse 10 to restore what according to this con-
clusion must have been the original text is to change the vocalisatiou of ^en (pS)
to Hn (pN). We should then have here another example of the particle, 'in, which
occurs in 1 Sam. xxi. 9, and which has bafBed ancient and modern exegetes alike,
but which on closer examination proves to be a by-form of the emphatic particle,
hen, hinne.' The Prophets of Israel, p. 36; see also pp. 24 — 37 and Supplementary
Note, pp. 327 ff.

2 See J. Th. S. xvi. p. 134.

XXVI. 18, 19] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 201

days of Hezekiah king of Judah ; and he spake to all the people
of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ^Zion shall be
plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the
mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. 19 Did
Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death ?
did he not fear the Lord, and intreat the favour of the Lord,
and the Lord repented him of the evil which he had pronounced
against them? Thus should we commit great evil against our

1 See Micab iii. 12.

Morashtite. The same title is prefixed to the Book, in order to dis-
tinguish the prophet from the many others who bore the same name;
it is derived from the village of Moresheth (of. Mic. i. 14) which was
probably Micah's birth-place.

Zion shall he plowed &c. Quoted from Mic. iii. 12, and of unique
interest as the only direct quotation in one prophet of another in OT.
It should be remembered that Micah's denunciation, though it reads as
severely as that of Jeremiah, was uttered before the doctrine of the in-
violability of Jerusalem had been vindicated by the destruction of
Sennacherib's army ; and that the temple was now the only place where
Jehovah could be worshipped, and therefore a shrine which He was
bound to defend at all costs.

mountain, of the Jiouse. The hill on which the temple is built will
become like a wooded height (lxx. both here and in Mic. iii. 12 reads
the singular). The phrase is preserved in 1 Mace. iv. 46 where Judas
takes down the defiled altar and hides the stones in the mountain of the
house until a prophet should arise to give instruction concerning them.

19. Did Hezekiah &c. This passage suggests that the influence
of Micah's preaching was much greater than is usually imagined, and
that he should be placed alongside Isaiah as inaugurating the reforms
of Hezekiah. Possibly the elders were exaggerating the influence of a
countryman like themselves, and in any case as J. M. P. Smith has
pointed out {Micah in ICC. p. 26) the prophet's teaching, as far as it
has been preserved, is much more concerned with social wrongs, especially
the wrongs of the poor, than with idolatry and the cultus.

intreat the favour. Lit. make sweet the face. Many critics look upon
this as an anthropomorphic expression and give as its literal meaning
smooth the face or even stroke the face (e.g. of an idol); without denying
the possibility of this derivation there is nothing in the Heb. itself to
suggest it \ The expression may be used of one man's act towards another
(Ps. xlv. 12; Prov. xix. 6; Job xi. 19 only); as well as of man's act
towards God.

Thus should we commit great evil. Heb. But ive are committing, an

^ For an examination into the meaning of the root Plpn in Heb. and cognate
languages see Dr Pusey's note on Zech. vii. 2 and cf. BDB. p. 318.

202 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxvi. 19-23

own souls. 20 And there was also a man that prophesied in the
name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim ;
and he prophesied against this city and against this land accord-
ing to all the words of Jeremiah : 21 and when Jehoiakim the
king, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words,
the king sought to put him to death ; but when Uriah heard it,
he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt : 22 and Jehoiakim
the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of
Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt: 23 and they
fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim

instance of what Dr Butteuwieser has named the ' potential participle,'
i.e. its use to express 'the disposition or tendency, or predetermination
of the subject to, or its qualification for the action.' Dr Buttenwieser
sees in this statement by the elders further proof that Jeremiah had
been condemned {op. cit. p. 26).

20 — 24. The fate of Uriah. Jeremiah owed his life to the protection
of powerful friends, other prophets were not so fortunate. These vv. are
almost certainly not part of the speech of the elders; and the incident
must have taken place after the escape of Jeremiah, as the temple sermon
was at the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (xxvi. 1), and time would
be needed for the flight of Uriah to Egypt, and for his apprehension,
which would probably be no very speedy process.

20. Uriah the soti of Shemaiah. Nothing further is known of this
prophet though the suggestion has been made that he was the unknown
author of Zech. xii. — xiv. (see Stanley, The Jeivish Church, 11. 449).

Kiriath-jearim. Usually identified with Kirjat el-inab which lies
some seven miles WNW. of Jerusalem on the road to Jaffa.

21. Egypt. Uriah thus followed the example of Jeroboam the son
of Nebat (1 K. xi.), but with less success.

22. Elnathan... Egypt. These words are wanting in lxx. From
the account of him in xxxvi. 12, 25 it is unlikely that Elnathan would
be employed on such an errand and lxx. is probably right in its omission.
It may be that Jehoiakim's agent was his father-in-law Elnathan of
Jerusalem (2 K. xxiv. 8), who was perhaps a different person from the
son of Achbor; if the latter words got into the text by mistake, some
scribe may have omitted the whole phrase as inconsistent with xxxvi.
12, 25 ; it seems to me to be easier to account for the omission than for
the subsequent insertion of the words.

23. In the first years of his reign Jehoiakim was under the over-
lordship of Pharaoh, and so it would be easy for him to get the extra-
dition of a fugitive from Egypt, especially of one who was guilty of
attacks on his rule. At the same time extradition treaties are no new
thing, Ramses II, for example, in the fourteenth century B.C. had one
with a Syrian king named Chetta.

xxvi. 23, 24] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 203

the king ; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body
into the graves of the ^common people. 24 But the hand of
Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should
not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

1 Heb. sons of the people.

slew Mm. Mr E,. B. Rackham in his Commentary on Acts, p. 101,
has poiuted out that though there ' were many traditions as to the fates
of the prophets ; and the persecuting and slaying of the righteous was
recognized as a feature of the history of Israel ' yet in OT. itself ' we
read of but few martyrdoms of the prophets.' See 1 K. xviii. 13; and
2 Ch. xxiv. 20—22.

24. Ahikam the son 0/ iShapkan. The brother of Gemariah (xxxvi.
12), and the father of Gedaliah (xxxix. 14, xl. 5). He, like Achbor
(v. 22), had been one of the deputation which Josiah sent to the
prophetess Huldah (2 K. xxii. 12).

CHAPTERS XXVH.— XXIX.

These three chh. are closely connected both in their contents and in the
circumstances which they pre-suppose. They come fi'om an early period in the
reign of Zedekiah ; they contain the messages which Jeremiah delivered against
the prophets who opposed him ; constant exhortations to accept the rule of the
Babylonian conquerors are found in them. In addition to these similarities of
subject matter the chh. are distinguished from the rest of the book by certain
literary characteristics. («) Those proper names which end in -iah (in the
English versions) are usually spelt in Heb. -"in^ (-iahu), but in these chh. the
predominant form is H* (-iah); for example the name Jeremiah is not found
with the shorter spelling in the rest of the book though it appears several
times in this form in xxvii. — xxix. (b) The name Nebuchadrezzar is always
(and correctly) so spelt in the rest of the book (leaving out xxxiv. 1 and xxxix. 5
which come from 2 K.) ; in this section it occurs once only (in xxix. 21), while
the less accurate form Nebuchadnezzar is found eight times, (c) The title of
'the prophet' is added to Jeremiah's name much more frequently than elsewhere.
{d) The difference of text between MT. and lxx. is much greater than usual,
the latter being the shorter text.

These phenomena all point towards the probability of this section's having
had a separate existence before being incorporated in the larger collection.
Giesebrecht tries to account for the differences by supposing that copies of
these chh. were sent to Babylon for the benefit of the exiles (an event which is
very probable, and in view of xxix. 1 almost certain), and that additions were
there made to them as well as changes in spelling, &c. This theory seems to
involve the disappearance of the originals which presumably did not come under

204 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxvii. /, 2

the same influences. Cornill and Duhm see traces of later writers in these chh.
though they allow that parts of them are due to Baruch. Graf has tried to
explain away the peculiarities but not with complete success.

Warnings against opposition to Babylon, xxvii.
The case of Hananiah. xxviii.
Jeremiah's letter to the exiles, xxix.

Chapter XXVH.
Warnings against Opposition to Babyloti.

The fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah (594 — 593 B.C.) was evidently one
of much unsettlement in Palestine ; the rule of Babylon, in spite of Nebuchad-
rezzar's successes, had not yet come to be recognised as a fact which had to be
submitted to ; and the small states were plotting amongst themselves for the
recovery of their independence (see Introd. p. xxvi). In Judah, and in the other
states also (cf. v. 9), these national aspirations received the active support of
those who were the recognised leaders of religion. In this ch. Jeremiah utters
a solemn warning to all who have been in any way influenced by the forecasts
of these 'false' prophets ; the Babylonian supremacy has still many years to run,
and meanwhile the only wise and right policy is to submit to it ; at the same
time he does his best to prevent the carrying out of what C. J. Ball has aptly
termed 'the suicidal policy of combination with heathenish and treacherous
allies, most of whom were the heirs of innumerable feuds with Judah.'

(a) Warning to the ambassadors. 1 — 11.

(&) Warning to the king. 12 — 15.

(c) Warning to the priests and people. 16 — 22.

XXVII. 1 In the beginning of the reign of ^ Jehoiakim the
son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from
the Lord, saying, 2 Thus saith the Lord to me: Make thee

1 Properly, Zedekiah, as in some ancient authorities. See vv. 3, 12, 20, ch.
xxviii. 1.

XXVII. 1 — 11. God, to whom the earth belongs, has given it into
the hands of the Babylonians for a certain season, any nation therefore
which rebels against them will be punished by Him.

1. reigti of Jehoiakim. By a scribal error Jekoiakim has been
written for Zedekiah (so mg. and c£ vv. 3, 12 and 20). The v. is
omitted by LXX. and probably the heading of xxviii. 1 should be
transferred to this place (see note ad loc).

2, to me. LXX. rightly omits.

xxviT. .-6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 205

bands and ^bars, and put them upon thy neck ; 3 and send them
to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king
of the chihlren of Amnion, and to the king of Tyre, and to the
king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to
Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah ; 4 and give them a
charge unto their masters, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel: Thus shall ye say unto your masters; 5 I
have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the
face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched
arm ; and I give it unto whom it seemeth right unto me. 6 And
now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar

1 See Lev. xxvi. 13.

bands and bars. These together formed a yoke, the wooden bars
being fastened together by thongs (see Enc. Bib. 78). The yoke was
an easily understood symbol for submission, either to an earthly or to
a heavenly sovereign ; the metaphor is often used by Jeremiah in one
or other of these senses, cf. ii. 20, v. 5, xxx. 8. For the employment
of similar means of warning cf Is. xx. (the prophet goes ' naked and
barefoot'); in 1 K. xxii. 11 'horns of iron' are used by the 'false'
prophet Zedekiah.

3. them. In the previous v. there is no mention of any yoke
beyond the one which the prophet himself was to wear, it seems best
therefore to omit them (so Lucian).

the messengei'S. Isaiah made a similar use of the presence of
ambassadors from Ethiopia (Is. xviii. 1 ff.). Duhm has collected other
instances of foreign nations giving heed to the prophets of Jehovah
(e.g. Jud. iii. 20; 1 K. xix. 15 ff. &c.).

5f The God of Israel is proclaimed as the God of the whole
earth, a declaration which must have required tremendous faith in the
prophet in view of the political insigniticance of Judah. It would be
interesting to know if the representatives of the other national gods
accepted Jeremiah's statement without protest, involving as it did the
subordination of their own deities. The action of the prophet was in
itself sufficient to render impossible any alliance between Judah and
these nations, because alliances carried with them the mutual recogni-
tion of the gods of the contracting parties.

5. The wording of this v. probably suggested that of Dan. ii. 37 f
my outstretched arm,. This expression is more often used of acts

of deliverance (Ps. cxxxvi. 12 and frequently in Dt.), or of punishment
(cf xxi. 5). In the later chh. of Is. the ' arm of the Lord ' is a con-
stant metaphor for God's operations in history (cf Is. Ii. 9, Iii. 10,
liii. 1, &c.); the use of the term, as here, in connexion with creation is
rare, though it also occurs in xxxii. 17.

6. have I given. Cf Is. xlv. 3; Jud. xi. 24, &c. and the various
similar expressions on the Moabite stone.

206 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxvii. 6-11

the king of Babylon, my servant ; and the beasts of the field also
have I given him to serve him. 7 And all the nations shall serve
him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land
come : and then many nations and great kings shall serve them-
selves of him. 8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and
the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of
the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord,
with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence,
until I have consumed them by his hand. 9 But as for you,
hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to
your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, which
speak unto you, saying. Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon :

10 for they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your
land; and that I should drive you out and ye should perish.

1 1 But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of
the king of Babylon, and serve him, that nation will I let remain
in their own land, saith the Lord; and they shall till it, and
dwell therein.

my servant. See on xxv. 9.

the beasts of the field. Man's dominion includes the beasts of the
field, see Gen. i. 26 with Driver's note; Judith xi. 7.

7. This V. is not found in lxx. probably because it is a late
addition and somewhat unsuited to its context. At the same time it
is quite possible that the forecast of the overthrow of Babylon might
be included in a warning not to resist her rule, if, as here, a clear
statement was made that such an overthrow would not happen for two
generations.

son, and his sons son. This prophecy will not bear a literal inter-
pretation as more than two rulers occupied the throne of Babylon
after Nebuchadrezzar ; possibly this failure to correspond with actual
facts caused the omission of the latter part of the v. by lxx. If the
words are from Jeremiah it is not necessary to read into them anything
more than a statement that the Babylonian supremacy had still a long
period during which to flourish (cf. the more detailed forecast of
'seventy years' in xxv. 11 and Ep. Jer. 3 'seven generations').

9. The attitude of the party who wished to rebel against Babylon
in each of the nations was supported, as in Judah, by the hopeful
forecasts of the official teachers of religion. For the meaning of the
different terms used here see Driver on Dt. xviii. 10.

10. to remove you. The consequences of following the advice of
the 'false' prophets are given as though they were the deliberate
purpose which inspired them.

XXVII. I2-I6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 207

12 And I spake to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all
these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king
of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. 13 Why
will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine,
and by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken concerning the
nation that will not serve the king of Babylon ? 14 And hearken
not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying,
Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon : for they prophesy a lie
unto you. 15 For I have not sent them, saith the Lord, but
they prophesy falsely in my name ; that I might drive you out,
and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy
unto you. 16 Also I spake to the priests and to all this people,

12 — 15. The warning to Zedekiah.

12. / spake. Evidently this section was dictated by Jeremiah
himself.

Bring your necks under the yoke. The policy which Jeremiah
recommends is well described in Matthew Arnold's lines :

' The East bow'd low before the blast,
In patient, deep disdain.
She let the legions thunder past.
And plunged in thought again^'

13 — 15. These vv. are very similar to vv. 8 ff.

13. Why will ye die? So Ez. xviii. 31.

16 — 22. The warning is repeated for the benefit of the priests and
the residue of the people. It should be noticed that lxx. and MT.
differ very considerably in this section, vv. 17 and 18 6 being omitted
by the former, and vv. 19 — 22 appearing in a much shorter form.
LXX. is probably right in leaving out v. \1 which seems to be an
insertion based on other similar statements "^

16. The prophets of ' Peace ' evidently chose something concrete
as the basis of their forecasts ; a definite prophecy, such as this of the
restoration of the temple vessels, must have been much more impressive
than merely general promises of good things to come.

the priests. Jeremiah met with constant opposition from the priests
and in the actual question in dispute their prejudices as the official
guardians of the temple and its contents would naturally be with those
who promised~a speedy return of the stolen vessels.

1 Ohermann once viore, 109 ff.

2 In V. 18 K3 •lyilp'' is rendered dwavrrjcrdTioffdp fioi. (evidently reading ^3 for
N3 unless indeed it represents a contracted form of ITliT'Q), and Cornill thinks that
the eye of the translator then wandered on from ''2 to ''2 at the beginning of v. 19
and that v. 18 b is therefore part of the original text, which has been mistakenly
omitted.

208 THF BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxvii. 16-19

saying, Thus saith the Lord : Hearken not to the words of your
prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of
the Lord's house shall now shortly be brought again from Baby-
lon: for they prophesy a lie unto you. 17 Hearken not unto
them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should
this city become a desolation? 18 But if they be prophets, and
if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make inter-
cession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in
the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah,
and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon. 19 For thus saith the
Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and

18. Jeremiah is just as willing to be definite as his rivals. For
the sarcasm which underlies his answer cf. Elijah and the prophets of
Baal (1 K. xviii. 27)\

19 — 22. In Lxx. these vv. appear as follows (the spaces represent
words found in MT.) : ' i^w thus saith the Lord .. .concerning the residue
of the vessels. . .which. . .the king of Babylon took not., when he carried
away captive Jeconiah...from Jerusalem.... They shall be carried to
Babylon... saith tJie Lord J The two texts agree in foretelling the
removal of the vessels to Babylon, the MT. alone speaks of their
return. It is possible that the Heb. represents the original and that
LXX. omitted part of it on account of the statement in Hi. 17 (=2 K.
XXV. 13) that certain of the vessels were broken up by the conquerors
of Jerusalem and taken away as scrap metal.

19. the pillars. The manufacture of these pillars is described in
1 K. vii. 15 — 22 (2 Chr. iii. 15—17) where see Dr Barnes' notes.
They were two in number and probably stood at a little distance from
the front of the temple. It is generally thought that these pillars are
representations of the sacred trees so typical of Semitic altars ^

the sea. Cf. 1 K. vii. 23 — 26. The molten sea was a large basin
supported, until the time of Ahaz (see 2 K. xvi. 17), upon the backs of
twelve oxen. The meaning of it has been lost, Josephus, for example,
could only account for its name 'because of its great size' {Antiq.

1 The form -lisln really stands for -INIl 3 m.p. Qal; cf. -IIT in Ps. Iviii. 4.

2 Robertson Smith points out that 'the details of the capitals... are those of
huge candles or cressets. They had bowls (1 Kgs. vii. 41) like those of the golden
candlestick (Zech. iv. 3), and gratings like those of an altar hearth. They seem
therefore to have been built on the model of those altar candlesticks which we find
represented on Phoenician monuments; see CIS. Pt. i. pi. 29, and Perrot and
Chipiez, Hist, de VArt, vol. in. figs. 81 sqq. The similarity to a candlestick,
which strikes us in the description of the Hebrew pillars, is also notable in the twin
detached pillars which are represented on coins as standing before the temple at
Paphos.' Rel. Sem." p. 488. This suggestion is interesting in view of Grotius'
idea that the Heb. word D''3?3n ('glowing ones') translated ' sun images' in Is.
xvii. 10, xxvii. 9, &c. actually represents irvpela.

XXVII. 19-22] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 209

concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels
that are left in this city, 20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Baby-
lon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son
of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and
all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; 21 yea, thus saith the
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are
left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of
Judah, and at Jerusalem : 22 They shall be carried to Babylon,
and there shall they be, until the day that I visit them, saith the
Lord; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this
place.

yiii. iii. 5) ; it is possible that it corresponded to the sacred lake found
in front of some Egyptian temples.

the bases. The ten carriages for holding the la vers are called bases.
For a description of them see 1 K. vii. 27 — 37, with Dr Barnes' notes,
and also Stade, ZATW. 1901, pp. 145—190.

20. nobles. The word here used in MT. O'ln is late and of Aramaic
origin. It occurs in 1 K. xxi. 8, 11, but its presence there is due,
according to Cornill, to the North Israelite origin of the narrative.

22. Jewish speculation was never tired of inventing legends con-
nected with the fate of the temple vessels. According to 2 K. xxiv. 13
all the golden vessels made by Solomon were cut up when Jerusalem
was taken during the reign of Jehoiachin. These were replaced by
silver ones, according to Baruch i. 8 f , and these latter vessels, which
Nebuchadrezzar had captured in 587, were restored to Jerusalem whilst
Jehoiachin was still alive (cf. v. 3). This tradition seems to contradict
Jeremiah's forecast, and to be in conflict with Ezra i. 7 — 11 which
states that Cyrus restored to the returning exiles the vessels of the
house of the Lord which Nebuchadrezzar had taken away ; however
as Jehoiachin was born in 615 it is possible that he was still alive in
536. In the inventory of vv. 9 — 11 the presence of so many articles of
gold is hard to reconcile with 2 K. xxiv. 13 (quoted above) and with
Hag. ii. 6 — 8 from which ' it is a fair inference that in the second year
of Darius there was little or no gold or silver in the Temple at Jeru-
salem.' Kennett, Schweich Lectures, p. 33. According to 2 Mace. ii.
4 — 8 Jeremiah himself hid the tabernacle, the ark and the altar of
incense in a cavern ; whilst another tradition says that angels descended
and rescued all the vessels from the temple and at their command the
earth opened her mouth and received them (2 Baruch vi. 7 ff.).

14

210 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxviii. 1-3

Chapter XXVHL
The case of Hananiah.

In the previous ch. Jeremiah warned various classes of people both Jew
and Gentile against trusting in the promises of the prophets who foretold a
speedy delivery from the yoke of Babylon ; this ch. exhibits the prophet himself
in active contest with one of these 'false' prophets. The two chh. have other
connexions besides that of subject matter, and probably in their original form
composed a single account. As xxvii. now stands it is wTltten mainly in a
somewhat diffuse style, it seems best, however, following the guide of lxx. to
cut out certain parts of the ch. and to transpose the heading of xxviii. 1 to
xxvii. 1. The events recorded in the complete narrative may quite well have
occurred on the same day.

{a) Hananiah contradicts Jeremiah and breaks the yoke from off his
neck. 1 — 11.

(&) The yoke of wood is to he replaced by one of iron. 12 — 17.

XXVIII. 1 And it came to pass the same year, in the begin-
ning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year,
in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azzur the prophet,
which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the Lord,
in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,
2 Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I
have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 Within two

XXVIII. 1 — 11. Hananiah publicly announces that the yoke of
Babylon has already been broken and that the vessels will be returned
in two years.

1. in the beginning .. .fifth month. In lxx. this statement of time
appears at the head of ch. xxvii. which seems to be its obvious place.

Hananiah was ' one of the religious fanatics of the national party '
as Cornill describes him, and apart from his bold and determined
acceptance of the challenge which Jeremiah had flun^ down, nothing
is known of him. In spite of the life-like skill with which he is here
portrayed, he is really nothing but a specimen of the prophets who
opposed Jeremiah (see Additional Note, pp. 182 fi'., for a discussion of the
relation of the various claimants to divine inspiration) ; he is not so
much a ' false ' prophet as a ' fallen ' prophet ; one who in Cheyne's
words 'with a light heart made promises in Jehovah's name incon-
sistent with the moral condition of the people, and therefore not to be
realised.'

Gibeon. Probably el-Jib some five miles NW. of Jerusalem, in the
territory of Benjamin; and the scene of Solomon's dream.

3. two full years. The exact statement of time added force to
the prophecy.

xxviii. 3-9] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 211

full years ^vill I bring again into this place all the vessels of the
Lord's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away
from this place, and carried them to Babylon : 4 and I will bring
again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
with all the captives of Judah, that went to Babylon, saith the
Lord : for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. 5 Then
the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the
presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people
that stood in the house of the Lord, 6 even the prophet Jere-
miah said, Amen : the Lord do so : the Lord perform thy words
which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the
Lord's house, and all them of the captivity, from Babylon unto
this place. 7 Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak
in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people : 8 The prophets
that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied
against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and
of evil, and of pestilence. 9 The prophet which prophesieth of
peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then
shall the prophet be known, Hhat the Lord hath truly sent him.

1 Or, ichom the Lord hath truly sent

4. Jeconiah. The restoration of Jeconiah would of course have
involved the deposition of Zedekiah : it seems strange that any prophet
should have thus dared to flout Zedekiah in his own capital city; the
king was, however, no Jehoiakim, and Hananiah ran no danger of
sharing the fate of Uriah (xxvi. 20 ff.). In v. 6 when Jeremiah takes
up the words of Hananiah he makes no mention of Jeconiah.

6. Amen: the Lord do so. Probably Jeremiah uttered these words
with regret; not with the sarcasm or mockery which Micaiah shewed
on a similar occasion (1 K. xxii. 15). Hananiah's forecast differed
from his own mainly in its omission of the need for repentance before
it could be fulfilled.

7 — 9. The great importance of these vv. for the light which they
throw on the nature of OT. prophecy has been recognised on all sides ;
two great principles are set forth in them : — (a) that the true prophet
was not one who spoke smooth things, such messages might be delivered
by an3-one, but he was one who felt compelled to condemn tlie nation's sin,
even at the risk of his own life ; (b) the prophet of peace can only be
accepted as genuine when his forecast is confirmed by the event itself;
it is to be noted that the same test is given in Dt. xviii. 20 ff. (See
further, Additional Note, pp. 182 ff.)

9. 0/ peace. In Micah's time the prophets of peace were subsidised
(iii. 5).

14—2

212 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxviii. lo-i.

10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet
Jeremiah's neck, and brake it. 11 And Hananiah spake in the
presence of all the people, saying. Thus saith the Lord : Even so
will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within
two full years from off the neck of all the nations. And the
prophet Jeremiah went his way. 12 Then the word of the Lord

11. Jeremiah went his way. The fact that as far as can be gathered
from the account Jeremiah made no reply to Hananiah has troubled
many critics; Cornill and others would reject the above clause as a
gloss suggested by the command in v. 13 'go and tell.' It must be
acknowledged that the account as it stands is full of difficulty, and
that it is hard to account for the action of Jeremiah. To the onlooker
his silence could have but one meaning — that he was unable to defend
himself, and if he did this voluntarily it would mean, as Cornill says,
that ' he had denied his God and given up his people to a lie.' Various
reasons have been put forward to account for the prophet's conduct;
it has been suggested that he lost his confidence in the reality of his
own message in face of the certainty and confidence of Hananiah ; but
such an idea can hardly be considered in a man of Jeremiah's ex-
perience ; that he had to wait for a direct message from God in reply
to Hananiah, and this explanation seems to fit in with v. 12 in which
the contest is renewed at the command of God ; but surely Jeremiah
would not need any 'special' revelation before he opposed teaching
which was in such violent contradiction to his own, and which he had
already, as it were, condemned by anticipation. In the opinion of the
present writer the last fact supplies a clue to the right solution. It is
a sufficient answer to Cornill's arguments to point out that Jeremiah
had so often and so strongly expressed his opinion on the teaching of
the prophets of peace, that no one would for a moment imagine that
he had been at last convinced by them ; probably in sheer weariness,
and hopeless of making any impression on minds so utterly perverted,
he turned away in sorrow and disgust (cf similar actions by our
Blessed Lord, Jn. viii. 25); and one may be sure that his attitude
towards the matter in dispute would not have been misunderstood by
any of those present, for doubtless he expressed his own feelings in his
face, if not by an outward gesture ; his attitude it seems to me is that
of Hos. iv. 17 'Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone.' There is
another possible explanation which, though it is not immediately
suggested by the text, is in agreement with the sequence of events
there related, and that is, that the emotional act of Hananiah inspired
the crowd to such an extent, and they were evidently sympathetic,
that the life of Jeremiah was in danger, or at any rate they were in
such a mood that any further protest on the prophet's part could have
done no possible good. It is only necessary to think of the conduct of
an English crowd towards an unpopular speaker to reahse the likelihood

xxviii. 12-17] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 213

came unto Jeremiah, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken
the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
13 Go, and tell Hananiah, saying. Thus saith the Lord: Thou
hast broken the bars of wood ; but thou shalt make in their stead
bars of iron. 14 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel: I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these
nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ;
and they shall serve him : and I have given him the beasts of
the field also. 1 5 Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah
the prophet. Hear now, Hananiah ; the Lord hath not sent thee ;
but thou makest this people to trust in a lie. 16 Therefore thus
saith the Lord, Behold, I will send thee away from off the face
of the earth : this year thou shalt die, because thou hast spoken
rebellion against the Lord. 17 So Hananiah the prophet died
the same year in the seventh month.

of this explanation, and the fact tliat the men of Judah were much less
highly civilised adds probability to it (cf. Mk. xv. 5 ; Lk. iv. 30).
12 — 17. The yoke of wood is replaced by one of iron.

13. tell Hananiah. Cf. the reply of Rehoboam ' My father chas-
tised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.' (1 K.
xii. 14; cf. Am. v. 19).

thou shalt make. Read with lxx. I will make (cf. v. 14).

14. The last part of this v. from and they shall serve is not found
in LXX.

16. I will send thee away. The Lord had not sent him {v. 15) but
He will send him away. Hitzig.

because... the Lord. lxx. omits. The phrase has possibly been
interpolated from Dt. xiii. 5, where, however, it refers to the crime of
idolatry. Zedekiah would be guilty of rebellion if he followed Hananiah's
guidance on two grounds : (a) Nebuchadrezzar was God's servant (xxvii.
6); (6) Zedekiah had sworn a solemn oath to obey him (Ez. xvii. 13 f.).

17. the seventh month. Jeremiah's forecast was uttered not earlier
than the fifth month {v. 1), the fulfilment of it was therefore very
speedy. The fact of Hananiah's death is accepted by Giesebrecht,
Dulim and Cornill; Cheyne doubted the truth of the narrative in The
Decline and Fall of the Kingdom of Judah, p. 77, but in The Two
Religions of Israel, p. 58, he treats it as a possible case of second sight
and compares a somewhat similar incident in Adamnan's Life of St
Columba (quoted by Peake). In many cases where the Divine judgement
is declared against some notable offender there is no record, as there
is here, of its having been carried out; this is not a sign that God's
word was not fulfilled, rather the contrary, for as Pusey says (Joel and
Amos, p. 39), 'At times, as in the case of Hananiah, Scripture records

214 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxix. i

the individual fulfilment of God's judgments. Mostly, it passes by-
unnoticed the execution of God's sentence. The sentence of the
criminal, unless reprieved, in itself implies the execution. The fact
impressed those who witnessed it; the record of the judgment suffices
for us.'

Chapter XXIX.

The Letter to the Exiles.

The contest with Hananiah and his brethren in Judah did not exhaust
Jeremiah's efforts against those whom he considered to be unworthy repre-
sentatives of Jehovah. The vain hopes which were fostered amongst the people
in Palestine by the 'false prophets' were also to be found amongst that part of
the nation which had gone into captivity after the first fall of Jerusalem.
Accordingly, Jeremiah took advantage of an embassy from the king to Nebu-
chadrezzar to send a letter on his own account to the exiles in Babylon, warning
them against the teaching of those who foretold a speedy return to their own
land. The date of this letter (the genuineness of which, apart from some later
additions, is admitted by most critics) is probably to be sought in the early part
of the reign of Zedekiah before his visit to Babylon (li. 59), and soon after the
arrival of the exiles in their new country. This ch. must therefore be considered
to be earlier than the two which go before it, and with which it has close
similarities (see Introd. to the three chh.). The ch. is interesting, in view of the
great use made of epistles in NT. times, as containing the first recorded example
of an epistle in the Bible. For other instances in OT. see 2 Ch. xxi. 12, xxx. 1,
xxxii. 17.

{a) Introduction. 1 — 3.

(6) The exiles are told to settle down and not to he deceived hy the

prophets of lies. 4 — 9.
{c) Babylon will he supreme for seventy years. 10 — 14.
{d) The punishment of those left behind in Jerusalem. 15 — 19.
{e) Condemnation of Ahah and Zedekiah the false prophets. 20—23.
(/) Condemnation of Shemaiah. 24 — 32.

XXIX. 1 Nowthese are thewordsofthe letter that Jeremiah
the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders

XXIX. 1. the residue of the elders. The meaning of this phrase
is obscure, and several critics would follow the reading of Lxx. which
has the elders only. The objection to this course is that it is easier to
explain the omission of the residue, granting that it formed part of the
original text, than it would be to explain its insertion. It is possible
that some of the elders had been removed from their posts and even
put to death by the Babylonians, and that Jeremiah's letter is a warning
to the remainder. For the condition of the exiles see note, pp. 222 f.

XXIX. 1-6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 215

of the captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and
to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away
captive from Jerusalem to Babylon : 2 (after that Jeconiah
the king, and the queen-mother, and the eunuchs, and the
princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the
smiths, were departed from Jerusalem ;) 3 by the hand of Elasah
the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom
Zedekiah king of Judah sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon,) saying, 4 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the
God of Israel, unto all the captivity, whom I have caused to be
carried away captive from Jerusalem unto Babylon : 5 Build ye
houses, and dwell in them ; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit
of them ; 6 take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters ; and

2. This V. which is evidently dependent on xxiv. 1, and 2 K. xxiv.
12 fF. reads like an interpolation.

queen-mother. See on xiii. 18f.
smiths. See on xxiv. 1.

3. Elasah. Probably the brother of Ahikam the son of Shaphan
who befriended Jeremiah (xxvi. 24); the ambassadors must have been
well disposed to the prophet to be entrusted with his message.

Gemariah. Possibly the son of that Hilkiah who discovered the
roll in the temple (2 K. xxii. 8).

sent unto Babylon. Perhaps bearing the annual tribute.

4 — 9. The exiles are advised to make Babylon their home and to
identify themselves with its fortunes. Some of the people and their
descendants took the prophet's advice so much to heart that they
refused to return even at the end of the exile; and it was probably to
influence such that the apocryphal Epistle of Jeremiah was written
(see Oxford Apocr. i. pp. 596 ff.).

5. gardens. When Alexander the Great occupied Babylon, he and
his servants ' were drawn to experiment in the acclimatizing of the
plants of their native land. In this they had been anticipated to some
extent by the old Eastern kings, who were zealous to collect fauna and
flora of remote countries in their gardens.' Edwyn Bevan, The House
of Seleucus, i. p. 246; cf. Tiele, Babyl.-assyr. Gesch. p. 603. According
to Strabo xv. 731 the vine was one of the trees so experimented with;
possibly its cultivation had already been tried by some of the Jewish
exiles.

6. Not only were the exiles to build and to plant but they were
also to marry and 'to settle down.' Cornill has suggested that this
was a command to take wives of the Babylonian women, but the double
form of the phrase take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to
husbands seems to contradict his supposition that there would not be
enough Jewish wives for all the exiles (cf. Dt. vii. 3).

216 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxix. 6-.0

take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands,
that they may bear sons and daughters ; and multiply ye there,
and be not diminished. 7 And seek the peace of the city whither
I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray unto the
Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace. 8 For
thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel : Let not your
prophets that be in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive
you, neither hearken ye to your dreams which ye ^ cause to be
dreamed. 9 For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name:
I have not sent them, saith the Lord. 10 For thus saith the

1 Or, dream

multiply. God's promise to Abraham was also a command.

7. seek the peace of the city. Both the Old and the New Testament
recognise the duty of loyalty to the existing form of political govern-
ment, provided it really carries out its responsibilities (Matt. xxii. 31 ;
1 Tim. ii. 2; 1 Pet. ii. 13—17)'. The city need not be limited to
Babylon, the exiles were probably divided up into a number of bodies
to prevent treachery, and scattered in different places, lxx. reading
land has much to recommend it.

/ have caused. Notice the stress here and in v. 4 which the prophet
lays upon the ultimate cause of the captivity being Jehovah Himself;
this teaching is the real basis of his advice to dwell in Babylon as being
the place in which God has put them.

8. dreams. See on xxiii. 25.

ye cause to he dreamed. The MT. as it stands is not good Hebrew
and possibly owes its form to dittography; by striking out the initial
letter of the verb, ye dream is read (so lxx., Syr. and Vg.). The
original text suggests that the people asked the prophets to make them
the subjects of their dreams so as to be able to give them the advice
they needed. Cornill would read they dream, making the dream refer
to the false prophets as in xxiii. 25 ff., cf also Dt. xiii. 2 if.

10 — 14. The seventy years of the Babylonian supremacy must be
fulfilled. Jeremiah's message to the captives must have been very
disappointing to many of them, who were doubtless living in almost
daily expectation of some event which would bring their captivity to
an end, and vindicate Jehovah's power by the annihilation of His
enemies.

^ Many instances could be cited to shew the way in which the later Jews fulfilled
the spirit of Jeremiah's command. In Ezra vi. 10 Cyrus is represented as asking
for the prayers of the people, and according to 1 Mace. vii. 33 offerings were made
for the Syrian monarchs (so in Eip. Ari&t. 45). The writer of Bar. ii. 21 ff. was
probably thinking of the above command when he denounced rebellion against the
heathen king as rebellion against God (cf. also i. 10 ff.). Later instances of the
same attitude can be found in Joseph, de Bell. Jud. ii. xvii. 2, and Contra Ap. ii. 6 ;
and in tlie Mishnah : ' Pray for the welfare of the government, since but for the
fear thereof men would swallow each other alive,' Ahoth, iii. 2.

XXIX. io-n] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 217

Lord, After seventy years be accomplished for Babylon, I will
visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you
to return to this place. 1 1 For I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil,
to give you ^hope in your latter end. 12 And ye shall call upon
me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto
you. 13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search
for me with all your heart. 14 And I will be found of you, saith
the Lord, and I will ^turn again your captivity, and I will gather
you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have

^ Heb. a latter end and hope. ^ Or, return to

10. seventy years. In xxv. 11 the same period is mentioned as
the length of time to be fulfilled before the Babylonian dominion would
come to an end. The prophet is therefore using round numbers. In
point of fact the Babylonian supremacy lasted roughly from 607, the
date of the Fall of Nineveh (or from the battle of Carchemish in 605)
till 538. The captivity lasted either sixty-one years, that is from the
first capture of Jerusalem in 597 to the approximate date of the first
return in 536; or if the date of the second capture be taken as the
starting point, fifty years only.

11. God's purposes for Israel are for their well being, and at the
latter end the misfortunes of the nation will be seen to have been part
of its necessary training. Cf Dt. viii. 16.

hope... end. Dr Streane compares mg. a latter end and hope ^\\h.
Prov. xxiii. 18, xxiv. 14, 20.

12 — 14. Lxx. text for these vv. is much shorter, omitting v. 12 up
to go and the whole of v. 14 after / vyiU he found of you.

13. There is much pathos in this v. when one thinks of the
prophet's condemnation of the Israelite worship, and their half-hearted-
ness, or as St .lames would call it ' double-mindedness ' (cf i. 5 — 8),
in seeking God. Cf Hos. v. 15 'in their affliction they will seek me
earnestly' and contrast Is. Ixvi. 1.

14. turn... captivity. The Heb. of this expression was generally
understood in this sense by the older writers ; Ewald, however, ques-
tioned it, and suggested that the literal meaning was turn a turn, that
is to say restore the fortune. Since his time most critics have accepted
the rendering he proposed, Driver, for example, in commenting on
Dt. XXX. 3 says, ' Whether n-n^' be derived from n2L*' or ^-It^ the 'ex-
pression does not mean * bring hack thy captives ' : it is used commonly
with reference to a decisive turn, or change, in a people's fortune.
Here, as also Jer. xxix. 14, xxx. 3; Ez. xxix. 14, the return from
captivity is mentioned separately afterwards.' In some passages the
old rendering is only possible when taken in a metaphorical sense (as
Ez. xvi. 53 ; Job xhi. 10).

218 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxix. 14-20

driven you, saith the Lord ; and I will bring you again unto the
place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. 15 For
ye have said, Tlie Lord hath raised us up prophets in Babylon.
16 For thus saith the Lord concerning the king that sitteth upon
the throne of David, and concerning all the people that dwell in
this city, your brethren that are not gone forth with you into
captivity ; 17 thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send
upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will
make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.
18 And I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine,
and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be Hossed to
and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an execration,
and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach, among all
the nations whither I have driven them: 19 because they have
not hearkened to my words, saith the Lord, wherewith I sent
unto them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending
them; but ye would not hear, saith the Lord. 20 Hearyethere-

1 Or, a terror unto

_ 15—19. The punishment of those left behind in Jerusalem. Cf.
xxiv. 8 — 10. These vv. seem to have got out of their context and can
hardly be retained as part of the genuine text. lxx. omits vv. 16 — 19
and also v. 20, v. 15 then connects quite smoothly with vv. 21 ff.'; in
Lucian's recension vv. 16 — 20 are found before v. 15. Driver looks
upon the vv. as of Babylonian origin, and thinks that they were in-
corporated into the book from an exilic version of the letter.

16. the king: i.e. Zedekiah.

17. vile figs. The way in which this figure is referred to seems to
presuppose a knowledge of xxiv. 2—8; there is however no insuperable
difficulty in the way of admitting such knowledge on the part of the
exiles.

_ 18. / have driven them. The writer seems to see things from the
point of view of one who could look back on the second deportation.

19. ye ivoxdd not hear. The words must be addressed to those
who remained behind and are therefore unsuitable in a letter sent to
Babylon. In this and the previous v. the interpolator, as Cornill says,
has forgotten his assumed situation.

20 — 23. The condemnation of Ahab and Zedekiah. These vv. are
probably a response to the boast on the part of the exiles that the Lord
had raised up prophets amongst them (see Introd. to vv. 15—19).

^ It should not be overlooked, however, that lxx. omission can be accounted for
by the scribe's eye having wandered from Babylon in v. 15 to Babylon in v. 20.

XXIX. 2o-i|. THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 219

fore the wj^d of the Lord, all ye of the captivity, whom I have
sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon.

21 Thiis saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning
Ahab the' son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of
Maaseiah, which prophesy a lie unto you in my name : Behold,
I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon ; and he shall slay them before your eyes ; 22 and of
them shall be taken up a curse by all the captives of Judah which
are in Babylon, saying. The Lord make thee like Zedekiah and
like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire:
23 because they have wrought folly in Israel, and have committed
adultery with their neighbours' wives, and have spoken words in
my name falsely, which I commanded them not ; and I am he
that knoweth, and am vritness, saith the Lord.

\ . . .

20. This V. is best eiSlained as being a link to connect the inter-
polation with what follows-ait is missing from lxx.

21. Ahab. .. Zedekiah. ^These two prophets are but names and
symbols of punishment; ifehing is known about them and in LXX.
even the names of their fa%ers are omitted. The punishment which
they underwent was not, apMrently, a Jewish one, as the appropriate
punishment under the law, except in certain unusual cases (cf Lev. xx.
14, xxi. 9) was stoning (Ez. xvi. 38, &c.)^ In any case Nebuchadrezzar
would hardly be likely to put these men to death for such an offence ;
they must have incurred his wrath for some political crime such as
stirring up the people against the Babylonian rule. The event seems
to have made a great impression on the mind of the Jews and later
tradition gave the names of Ahab and Zedekiah to the two elders in
Susanna, probably on account of the similarity of their fate.

22. a curse. As the Heb. for curse is kglalah a play on Kolaiah
is perhaps intended, and also on kalah = roasted.

roasted. Cf the fate of the seven brethren (2 Mace. vii. 3 ff.).

23. The combination of immorality with a presumptuous claim to
speak in the name of God was also a mark of the prophets condemned
by Jeremiah in xxiii. 14.

folli/, in Heb. has not quite the same meaning as in English; the
fool is not merely one who lacks wisdom, but also one whose moral
faculties are blunted (cf Ps. xiv. 1).

he that knoweth. This phrase is absent from lxx. and may be an
interpolation ; the idea underlying it is not uncommon (cf Ex. ii. 25 ;
Hos. V. 3 ; Nah. i. 7).

^ Burning was also an exceptional punishment under the Code of Hammurabi
(see § 157). In Jubilees xx. 4 burning is stated to be the normal punishment for
fornication.

220 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxix. .4-26

24 And ^concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite thou shalt
speak, saying, 25 Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thine own name
unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the
son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26 The
Lord hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest,
that ye should be officers in the house of the Lord, for every man

1 Or, unto

24 — 32. The condemnation of Shemaiah. The letter which Jere-
miah sent to the exiles naturally caused much consternation amongst
the prophets who were condemned by it, and one of them, Shemaiah
the Nehelamite, attempted to have Jeremiah arrested and punished.

The section as it stands is in a state of great confusion and can
hardly be original. Four strata, as it were, of speech are represented ;
(a) the Lord speaks, (b) Jeremiah is to hand on what He says, (c) this
includes what Shemaiah wrote, (d) which repeats Jeremiah's words.
The first part of v. 25, which is addressed to Shemaiah, is not con-
sistent with V. 29, in which the letter from him is read to Jeremiah,
apparently for the first time. The best solution of the difficulty is
perhaps to strike out v. 25 a and to turn the rest of the v. into the
third person, retaining the words concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite
iv. 24) as a heading to the section, lxx. has the matter of this passage
arranged in a different order from MT., but it gives no help towards
making the confusion any less.

24. Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Nothing is known of this man, and
it is uncertain whether his designation is a family or a geographical one.

25. in thine own name. Not in the name of God; perhaps this
statement is not intended to be taken literally, Shemaiah would doubt-
less have claimed that he was acting quite as much as was Jeremiah
under the guidance of God.

unto all... Jerusalem. This phrase together with and to all the
priests is omitted by lxx., and rightly so as the actual contents of the
letter shew.

Zephaniah. Also mentioned in xxi. 1 (where see note) and xxxvii. 3
as being sent to ask for an oracle from Jeremiah; and in lii. 24 ff.
(= 2 K. xxv. 18 ff.) as being put to death by Nebuchadrezzar. In this
latter passage he is called ' the second priest.'

Maaseiah. Also the name of the father of Zedekiah the prophet
{v. 21), though in that context he is not called the priest.

26. Jehoiada. the priest. Probably the high priest of the reign of
Joash is meant (cf 2 K. xi. 18).

officers. There is little doubt that the singular should here be read
with LXX., Targ., Syr., &c. The Heb. word used, D^pa, is the same as that
applied to Pashhur in xx. 1 , though in his case the word n^jj (translated
'chief in RV.) is added; probably the offices were the same, in view

XXIX. 26-3i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 221

that is mad, and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest
put him in the stocks and in ^shackles. 27 Now therefore, why
hast thou not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh
himself a prophet to you, 28 forasmuch as he hath sent unto us
in Babylon, saying, The ccqMvity is long : build ye houses, and
dwell in them ; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them ?
29 And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of
Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then came the word of the Lord unto
Jeremiah, saying, 31 Send to all them of the captivity, saying.
Thus saith the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite:

^ Or, the collar

of the similarity of their functions, but the matter is by no means
certain.

mad. Cf the question in 2 K. ix. 1 1 ' wherefore came this mad
fellow to thee ? ' Eastern peoples, even to the present day, look upon
madmen as in some sense inspired, and the same thought evidently
underlies the use of fxdvri<; (from fxatvo/xai. to rage furiously , he mad) for
a soothsayer or prophet amongst the Greeks.

stocks. See note on xx. 2.

shackles. The exact meaning of the Heb. is not certain and the
word is not found elsewhere ; mg. collar is from a cognate Arabic word
and probably better represents the original.

27. maketh himself a prophet. Better behaves like a prophet. The
temple authorities quite evidently had no sympathy with the ' dervish-
like' excesses of the prophets (cf 1 S. x. 10, 12 f, xvii. 10, xix. 20 ff.).
The priests as a body despised the prophets — that is those of them who
were not subservient to themselves — and looked upon them as mad
enthusiasts. In just the same way the philosophers and poets of
ancient Greece were in constant antagonism (cf. Plato, Reimh. x. 607 b)^.
The poets, for their part, mostly attacked the ' sophistical ' upholders
of systems and in doing so exhibited remarkable affinities to the
prophets of Israel. The guardians of the established order, and es-
pecially of religious order, are at all times suspicious of the unusual;
or as a modern writer has well said ' are so [much] afraid of religious
vagu,ries and so little afraid of religious stagnation^.' At the same
time there is another side of the case, and so fervent an evangelist as
St Paul had to warn his converts that ' the spirits of the prophets are
subject to the prophets ' (1 Cor. xiv. 32).

^ See the first of Mr James Adam's Gifford Lectures on The Religious Teachers
of Greece entitled ' The place of Poetry and Philosophy in the Development of
Greek Religious Thought.'

" Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis, p. 339.

222 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxix. 31, 32

Because that Shemaiah hath prophesied unto you, and I sent him
not, and he hath caused you to trust in a lie ; 32 therefore thus
saith the Lord, Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite,
and his seed ; he shall not have a man to dwell among this people,
neither shall he behold the good that I will do unto my people,
saith the Lord: because he hath spoken rebellion against the
Lord.

32. he shall not. ..the good. It is hard to understand this statement
as it stands. What is meant by the good which God will do to His
people? It can hardly refer to the restoration, which was according
to Jeremiah's own teaching to be delayed for seventy years, for
Shemaiah would have no reasonable expectation of living to see that
event. The punishment should therefore be applied to the seed as is
done by lxx. which reads there shall not be a man of them in the midst
of you to see the good.

Additional Note on xxix. L

The Condition of the Exiles.

The Babylonians in their foreign policy were not so rigorous or so crufel as
the Assyrians, they did not sweep away entire populations and substitute
strangers for them. Their object after the fall of Jerusalem was to render
Judah powerless by the removal of the nation's leaders and its warriors. The
number of captives was therefore comparatively small, according to 2 K. xxiv. 16
eight thousand men (v. 14 gives the number as teu thousand), and according
to Jer. lii. 28 three thousand and twenty-three Jews only. In some cases the
captives were allowed to take their families ttith them (which probably accounts
for the difference in the above figures), but this was not so in every instance
(cf. Ez. xxiv. 21). It should be noticed in passing that the policy of Babylon
was not successful ; the remnant prospered in an amapng way and the nation
soon recovered its strength. When the yoke of Babylon was eventually thrown
off in 588 Jerusalem oftered a more determined resistance, though defended
by a remnant only, than it had done during the first siege.

The land to which the Hebrews were taken was noted for its fertility and
wealth. 'It was... to the very centre of the world — the most populous and busy
part of His earth — to which God sent His people for their exile.' If the treat-
ment of Jehoiachin is any guide it is probable that the exiles of the first
deportation were well treated. They were not looked upon as slaves and
distributed amongst a number of private masters, but were allowed to retain
some form of self-government, living probably in fairly large communities under
the rule of elders (xxix. 1 ; Ez. iii. 15, viii. 1, xiv. 1) as in the early days of the

THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 223

nation before the establishment of the monarchy. Their life would be very
little diflFerent from that of the ordinary villager though probably somewhat
strange to the aristocratic Jews who formed the bulk of the exiles. Many of
them were doubtless employed on the large building and irrigating schemes
which were then being carried on in Babylon ; many of them seem to have
taken to trade on their own account ; and some of them, perhaps in rather later
times, had sufBcient leisure to lay the foundation of the literary activity which
made the exile period of so much value in the religious development of the
nation.

The religious life of the exiles was rendered diflBcult by reason of their
separation from Jerusalem and their dwelling in 'an unclean land.' The faith
of many of them must have been severely tried by the fall of Jerusalem, and by
what seemed to them the evident inability of Jehovah to protect His worshippers
when confronted by the servants of Bel and Marduk ; the elaborate and stately
ritual must have tempted many into disloyalty ; and the whole system of de-
portation, whether deliberately planned or not, must have tended to make the
old worship impossible, and so to undermine the very existence of the nation.
Many nations did, indeed, entirely disappear when subjected to this fate.

One effect of the first deportation was to divide the nation into two halves
between whom there was apparently much ill-feeling. That the relations of the
exiles and the remnant should be unfriendly is not really surprising. On the
one side those who had been carried away were the pick of the nation, the
nobles, the craftsmen and the priests, and they would naturally look down on
their low-born and inexperienced successors. This feeling of antagonism would
be reinforced by the events preceding the deportation when the exiles were
forced to get rid of their property, almost certainly at very low prices. The
remnant, on their side, looked upon their survival in the land as due to their
greater holiness and despised the exiles accordingly (cf. xxiv. and the prophet's
own opinion). In spite of these differences there was much that was similar in
the two communities; they both hoped for speedy deliverance; the temple at
Jerusalem in spite of its having been looted was still held to be the guarantee .
of God's protection and of national restoration (cf xxvii. 16). Hopes such as
these were fostered and perhaps originated, in both Babylon and Palestine, by
the false prophets ; and in each case these prophets were opposed by a single
true prophet, by Ezekiel in Babylon and by Jeremiah in Jerusalem.

CHAPTERS XXX.— XXXHL

Critics of an older generation considered that these four chh. formed a
united whole, and at first sight there is much to be said for this view. The
prevailing gloom, which overspreads the authentic prophecies of Jeremiah in
the previous portion of the book, seems here to lift for a while, and these
utterances are marked by a spirit of hope and expectancy, and by the promise

224 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

of coming good. A closer examination of the passages, however, soon reveals
the fact that much of the matter contained in them cannot readily be attributed
to Jeremiah, nor to anyone living in his day, and that vi^hatever unity they
possess is editorial rather than original. It is, however, convenient to group
the chh. together for the purpose of analysis. Payne Smith divides them up as
follows :

' A triumphal hymn of Israel's salvation.' xxx., xxxi.
The purchase of the field at Anathoth. xxxii.

A direct promise of the return of the nation and of the restoration of the
Davidic throne, xxxiii.

Chapters XXX., XXXI.

The Glories of the Future.

These two chh. form a literary unity and are so treated by all critics ; they
shew one side of the picture of which xlvi. — li. gives the other, here blessings
are promised to the oppressed people, there punishment is to fall on the sur-
rounding nations. Their position immediately after xxix. 32 is almost certainly
due, as Cornill says, to the fact that they describe 'the good' which Shemaiah,
or more probably his descendants, was to forfeit (see above). As they break the
continuous series of narratives which stretch from xxiv. to xliv. and themselves
consist entirely of prophecies or spoken words some such explanation of their
position is necessary.

The hopeful tone of these chh., the evident fact that they come from a time
when Jerusalem had fallen (xxx. 18, xxxi. 40), and that if they are a unity they
presuppose a Palestinian origin (xxxi. 8, 21), has led many critics to reject
them in toto. Stade, and Smend, and more recently, H. P. Smith are amongst
this class; the latter says 'in the book of Jeremiah, we have the complete
Messianic programme set forth in language that we cannot possibly suppose to
have been used by that preacher (Jer. 30 and 31),' The Religion of Israel,
pp. 245 f This manner of dealing with the passage has seemed to many critics
too sweeping, and they would retain part at any rate of the chh., especially the
poetic portions, as coming from the prophet. Movers noticing the similarity of
some of the utterances to the later chh. of Isaiah, separated them and attributed
them to the writer of those chh. ; Graf however thought that the indebtedness
was the other way, and that the passages in Jeremiah are the original and were
copied by later writers. It must be confessed that a great deal of uncertainty
exists as to the authenticity of much of the section ; there is little doubt that it
contains later additions, but it is also probable that much which has been
rejected by some critics is genuine; the fact, for example, that the chh. come
from some writer living in Palestine subsequent to the fall of Jerusalem does
not absolutely preclude Jeremianic authorship, as the prophet did not go down
to Egypt at once. The only conclusion that can be safely put forward is that

XXX. 1-5] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 225

each part of the section must be examined on its own merits ; in other words
that the chh. are a literary unity and not a single utterance.

(a) The heading of the prophecies, xxx. 1 — 4.

(&) Troubles are to come upon all peoples. 5 — 11.

(c) The restoration of Zion. 12 — 22.

{d) The storm of God's anger. 23 f.

(e) The restoration of Ephraim. xxxi. 1 — 9.

{f) The Lord's purpose is proclaimed to the nations. 10 — 14.

{g) The sorrou-s of Rachel. 15 — 22.

iji) The coming blessings on both Israel and Judah. 23 — 30.

(^) The New Cuvenant with the house of Israel. 31 — 34.

(J) The stability of Israel. 35—40.

XXX. 1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord,
saying, 2 Thus speaketh the Lord, the God of Israel, saying,
Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.
3 For, lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will Hurn again
the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord : and
I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers,
and they shall possess it.

4 And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning
Israel and concerning Judah. 5 For thus saith the Lord: We
have heard a voice of trembling, ^of fear, and not of peace.

^ Or, return to ^ Or, there is fear, and no peace

XXX. 1 — 4. The heading of the prophecies. This heading is
probably late and intended to be an introduction to the two chh.
Graf thought that the glorious picture of Israel's future contained in
these chh. was intended to form the ending of Jeremiah's roll as issued
for the second time (xxxvi. 32); it seems as if this introduction was
written for an utterance put forth after the fall of Jerusalem and in
view of the return.

4. these are the words. The vv. following seem to be the contents
of the book referred to in v. 2.

5- — 11. This section deals with the judgements coming upon all
peoples; upon Jacob in order that he may be delivered; upon the
nations that their yoke may be burst from off his neck. For this
double function of the judgement Driver compares Is. xiii. 6 — 15 (the
fall of Babylon), and Is. xiv. 1 f (the salvation of Israel).

5. thus saith the Lord. As the statement which follows is in the
1st person plural and obviously unfitted to be a divine utterance,
the words should be deleted as the addition of a careless scribe, unless
indeed * Ye say' should be inserted after them.

E. 15

'226 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxx. 6-9

6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child :
wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a
woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? 7 Alas !
for that day is great, so that none is like it : it is even the time
of Jacob's trouble ; but he shall be saved out of it. 8 And it
shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will
break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bands ; and
strangers shall no more serve themselves of him : 9 but they
shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will

6. ' Men do not suffer the pains of child-bearing ; what, then, is
the cause of the terror and agony which they are all displaying?'
Driver. For child-bearing as a type of great pain and terror cf Is.
xiii. 8, where it is said that 'their faces shall be faces of flame' ; xxi. 3 ;
and frequently in Ps. and elsewhere ^

paleness. The word here used is usually applied to mildew; cf
Joel ii. 6; Nah. ii. 10.

7. that day. The day of the Lord; i.e. the time when, in the
popular imagination, the foes of Israel were to be crushed by the sudden
intervention of Jehovah Himself See Edghill's note on Am. v. 18
(where the phrase is first used); and cf Mk. xiii. 7 f , 17 — 20, 24.

Jacob. A favourite term for Israel in the later chh. of Is. and
other writings which are usually considered to be of a late date. In
Is. ii. 5, viii. 17, x. 20 the name is used for Judah onlj^; in Is. ix. 8
for Ephraim only; the usage in this ch. is a little uncertain, probably
it includes both branches of the nation (cf v. 4).

8. The early part of the v. is strongfy reminiscent of Is. x. 27;
cf also Nah. i. 13. Driver thinks that the sudden and awkward change
from the 3rd to the 2nd person is due to the influence of the former
passage, lxx. reads the 3rd person which looks like a correction.

hands. See on xxvii. 2.

9. the Lord their God, and David their king. This phrase is also
found in Hos. iii. 5; Cheyne considers that in each case it is an in-
sertion (Introd. to Robertson Smith's Prophets', p. xviii.). David
their king refers to an ideal king of the house of David and not to
David risen from the dead; the Targum paraphrases 'Messiah the son
of David, their king.' At the same time, in view of similar legends,
it is probable that many of the common people liked to think that
David himself was to return, just as Orthodox Jews, even to the present
day, look for a literal return of Elijah. It is a remarkable, though

1 Herodotus records that the Scythians were punished by having birth-pangs
inflicted upon them for their crime in plundering the temple of Venus at Ascalon
(i. 105). Prof. R. A. S. Macalister compares the Irish legend of the Tain Bo Cuailuge
in which the same punishment is brought on the men of Ulster by the curse of
Macha. Schweich Lectures, p. 94 u.

XXX. 9-13] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 227

raise up unto them. 10 Therefore fear thou not, O Jacob my
servant, saith the Lord ; neither be dismayed, 0 Israel : for, lo,
I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their
captivity ; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease,
and none shall make him afraid. 11 For I am with thee, saith
the Lord, to save thee : for I will make a full end of all the nations
whither I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full end of
thee; but I will correct thee with judgement, and wiU in no wise
^ leave thee unpunished.

12 For thus saith the Lord, Thy hurt is incurable, and thy
wound grievous. 13 There is none to plead ^thy cause, ^that

^ Or, hold thee guiltless

2 Or, thy cause : for thy ivound thou hast no medicines nor plaister

^ Heb. for closing up, or, pressing.

perhaps not an unnatural, fact that constant and widespread traditions
exist that certain great rulers and kings are to come back to l^e the
saviours of their people, as, for example, our own king Arthur, Frederick
Barbarossa, and also the Moslem belief that the Mahdi will return \

10 f These vv. are missing from lxx. though they are found in
xlvi. 27 f where they recur in the Heb. Driver thinks that they are
a detached fragment added in both places by the compiler; other critics
disagree as to which of the places of occurrence is the original, but
agree in rejecting the Jeremianic authorship.

Jacob my servant. The phrase is very common in Deutero Isaiah,
though as Canon Kennett warns us ' we must be on our guard against
the too common assumption that phrases in the Bible have always
exactly the same nuance.' The Servant of the L<yrd, p. 8.

afraid. C£ Is. xvii. 2.

11. with judgement. Cf. x. 24.
unpunished. Literally as mg. hold thee guiltless.

12 — 22. The restoration of Zion. Judah cannot heal her own
wounds and as all capacity for repentance seems gone there is no hope
that she will appeal to the only wise physician ; God Himself will
however interfere on her behalf because of the taunts of the enemy.

12. Cf. XV. 18 where the prophet uses the same language to de-
scribe his own sufferings.

13. to plead thy cause. A forensic metaphor which seems a little

1 Cf. Miss Gertrude Lowthian Bell's description of the Mosque at Samarra (on
the Tigris to the north of Baghdad). 'Inside under tiie dome of priceless tiles are
the tombs of the tenth and eleventh Shi'ah Imams, while the smaller dome of gold
covers the cleft into which vanished the Mahdi, who will appear again when
the time is ripe. Therefore when you see black ensigns, black ensigns coming out
of the East, then go forth and join them ; for the Imam of God will be with those
standards, and he will fill the world with equity and justice.' Amurath to Amurath,
p. 212.

15—2

228 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxx. 13-18

thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.
14 All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not: for
T have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the
chastisement of a cruel one ; for the ^greatness of thine iniquity,
because thy sins were increased. 15 Why criest thou ^for thy
hurt? thy pain is incurable: for the ^greatness of thine iniquity,
because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto
thee. 16 Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured;
and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into cap-
tivity ; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey
upon thee will I give for a prey. 17 For I will restore ^health
unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord ;
because they have called thee an outcast, saying, It is Zion,
whom no man ^seeketh after. 18 Thus saith the Lord : Behold,
I will ^turn again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have com-
passion on his dwelling places; and the city shall be builded
upon her own ^heap, and the palace shall '^ remain after the

' Or, multitude ^ Or, for thy hurt, because thy pain is incurable ?

3 See ch. viii. 22. * Or, careth for ^ Or, return to

® Or, mound Heb. tel. '^ Or, be inhabited

out of place as the rest of the v. continues the medical language of
V. 12. Duhm omits, probably correctly.

The exact meaning of the latter part of the v. is a little uncertain,
and the mg. seems to give the best translation : for thy wound thou hast
no medicines nor pkiister.

14. thy lovers. This may mean either the Baalim or Judah's
allies, probably the latter.

16. Therefore. The connexion is ratlier difficult because the sins
of Zion are apparently made the reason for her restoration. It may be,
however, that the meaning intended is ' Because of thy great need' &c.

shall go into captivity, lxx. shall eat their own flesh; this rendering
which involves only a slight change in Heb. is accepted by Cornill who
compares Is. xlix. 26 ; cf. also Is. ix. 20 ; Hag. ii. 22.

17. restore health. See on viii. 22.

18. tents. The corresponding Arabic word is used of households.
heap. Heb. tel. The city was to be rebuilt on its old site. ' A " tell "

is in appearance an ordinary hill; but it is in reality, at least in its
upper part, a mass of ruins. In the East, from the earliest times,
buildings have been constructed of sun-dried bricks, blocks of mud
held together by chopped straw. A city was built of houses made in
this way ; and after a while, either from war or from decay, the mud
houaes fell to pieces ; streets and rooms were filled with the remains of

XXX. 18-24] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 229

manner thereof. 19 And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving
and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them,
and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they
shall not be small. 20 Their children also shall be as aforetime,
and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will
punish all that oppress them. 21 And their prince shall be of
themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from the midst of them;
and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto
me : for who is he that ^hath had boldness to approach unto me?
saith the Lord. 22 And ye shall be my people, and I will be your
God.

23 2 Behold, the tempest of the Lord, even his fury, is gone
forth, a ^sweeping tempest: it shall burst upon the head of the
wicked. 24 The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return, until

1 Heb. hath been surety for his heart. ^ See ch. xxiii. 19, 20.
^ Or, gathering

the fallen walls; the level of the streets also was often raised in-
dependently by the accumulation of refuse in them ; and when, as
often happened, the city was rebuilt on its former site, it naturally
stood some feet above the original city. This process might naturally
be repeated; and the excavation of Tell el-Hesy showed that it had
actually been repeated there ten times.' Driver, Sckwelch Lectures,
p. 41. The city, however, was sometimes rebuilt in the neighbourhood
in order to avoid the labour of preparing the old site; see Bliss and
Macalister, Excavations in Palestine, 1898 — 1900, pp. 67 f
palace. See note on vi. 5, and cf. Pro v. xviii. 19 'citadel'

19. not he few. Cf xxix. 6-

20. congregation. The use of this word suggests a post-exilic
origin for the passage, it is common in the Priestly document of the
Pentateuch and gives the idea of the people as a church rather than
a nation.

21. their prince. The term king seems definitely to be avoided
(contrast v. 9), which is also a sign of late date. The priestly functions
which he is to assume are also significant (cf. Nu. xvi. 5 ; Lev. xxi. 21,
23; Ez. xliv. 13), and though it seems hardly necessary to go down as
late as the time of Jason, Meuelaus, and Alcimus, to find a suitable
date for the passage (as Duhm does), yet it bears clear marks of the
conditions and ideals of the later Judaism.

hath had boldness to approach. The reading of mg. is more literal
and preserves a striking metaphor : hath been surety for kis heart to
approach.

23 f These vv. contain a description of the storm of God's anger
which is almost identical with xxiii. 19 f. where see notes.

230 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxx. 14-xxxi. 4

he have executed, and till he have performed the intents of his
heart : in the latter days ye shall understand it.

XXXI. 1 At that time, saith the Lord, will I be the God
of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. 2 Thus
saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword ^ found
grace in the wilderness; even Israel, ^when I went to cause him
to rest. 3 The Lord appeared ^of old unto me, saying, Yea, I
have loved thee with an everlasting love : therefore * with loving-
kindness have I drawn thee. 4 Again will I build thee, and thou
shalt be built, 0 virgin of Israel : again shalt thou be adorned
with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that

^ Or, have foxmd. . .lohen I go ^ Or, lohen he went to find him rest
^ Or, from afar * Or, have I continued lovingkindness unto thee

XXXI. 1 — 9. The restoration of Ephraim: In iii. 12, spoken
in the early part of his ministry, Jeremiah shewed his concern for the
lost Northern tribes, here again his old interest is to the fore.

1. all the families of Israel. Here and ii. 4, &c.

2. The exact meaning of this v. is somewhat hard to discover. It
is perhaps best to interpret the past tenses as 'prophetic' (i.e. they
look upon that which is Jeliovali's will as if it had already been carried
out), as is done in mg., have found .. .when I go. The wilderness then
means not the historic exodus but the symbolic wilderness of exile
(cf. Hos. ii. 14), and those left of the swords are not the fugitives from
Egypt, but those who escaped with their lives when Samaria fell, or
rather their descendants.

when I went &c. Driver's emendation (which involvest he omission
of a letter in the Heb.) gives the best reading / will go that I may
cause Israel to rest.

3. of old. Better as rag. from afar (cf xxx. 10). The prophet is
represented as speaking amongst the exiles and Jehovah appears from
Mount Zion.

with lovingkindness. The text have I drawn thee is based on
Hos. xi. 4, 'I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love';
cf Jn. vi. 44: i\\& mg. have I continued .. .unto thee ioWov}^ t\xQ XQndi&cmg
of Ps. xxxvi. 11. The former is to be preferred.

4. Jeremiah contemplates with sympathy the manifestations of
joy exhibited by the restored exiles. This v. gives the other side of
the picture presented in Ps. cxxxvii. ' By the rivers of Babylon.'

tabrets. The nation is personified as one of its own daughters
going forth with ' timbrels and dances ' : cf Ex. xv. 20 f (Miriam) ;
Jud. xi. 34 (Jephthah's daughter). The tabret, or timbrel, was very
much like the present day tambourine, and its use was not confined to
women (see 1 S. x. 5; 2 S. vi. 5; 1 Ch. xiii. 8).

dances. Dancing in ancient times was often a religious exercise;

XXXI. 4-8] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 231

make merry. 5 Again shalt thou plant vineyards upon the
mountains of Samaria: tlie planters shall plant, and shall ^ enjoy
the fruit thereof. 6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen
upon the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to
Zion unto the Lord our God. 7 For thus saith the Lord, Sing
with gladness for Jacob, and shout ^for the chief of the nations :
publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Lord, save thy people, the
remnant of Israel. 8 Behold, I will bring them from the north
country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth,

1 Heb. profane, or, make common. See Lev. xix. 23 — 25; Deut. xx. 6, xsviii. 30.

^ Or, at the head

such was David's dancing before the ark (2 S. vi. 14); and the dances
at the vintage and other agricultural festivals no doubt had a religious
significance (see J. C. Murray- Aynsley in Folklore Jou7'7ial,Y .^^. 253 ff.).
For the art as an expression of religious emotions in later times see
Franz Delitzsch, Iris, pp. 189 — 204 (referred to by Peake); and an
article in The Interpreter, i. 505 ff. ' Church-dancing in many lands.'

5. The picture here given is one of settled peace and security;
for since the vine does not yield fruit for several years after it has been
planted, those who own vineyards depend on a secure holding of their
property in order that they may enjoy its increase. Later writers were
much more definite in their promises (cf Enoch x. 18 f ).

enjoy. Lit. as mg. profane, make common. Cf. Lev. xix. 23 ff. The
owner did not enjoy the fruits until the fifth year, the fourth being
sacred to .Jehovah and the first three remaining ungathered.

6. watchmen. The same word is used in Job xxvii. 18; Is. xxvii. 3
of the keepers of the vineyard.

let us go up to Zion. The long quarrel between Israel and Judah
is now over, and the Northern Kingdom is represented as returning to
worship at the ecclesiastical capital of the religion of Jehovah (cf xli.
4ff.). Cornill denies the genuineness of this v. as, in his opinion, it
could not have been spoken by one who had a conception of religion
so spiritual as was Jeremiah's; he points out the diti'erent attitude
towards Jerusalem adopted in vii. 1 — 15. This view seems to over-
emphasise Jeremiah's opposition to the temple and Jerusalem.

7. Sing. The word is used of any shrill cry, whether of joy, as
here and generally, or of sorrow, as in Is. x. 30.

the chief of the nations. Duhm's suggested emendation on the tops
of the mountains has much to recommend it; cf Is. xlii. 11.

0 Lord, save thy people. The reading of LXX. and Targ. The Lord
hath saved His people is to be preferred.

8. the uttermost parts o/ the earth. This phrase is in the manner
of 2 Is. (e.g. xliii. 6), whose influence is to be seen in vv. 7 — 14. It is
just possible that Jeremiah might have written the words (cf vi. 22),
but not at all likely.

232 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxi. 8-10

and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and
her that travaileth with child together : a great company shall
they return hither. 9 They shall come with weeping, and with
supplications will I lead them: I will ^cause them to walk by
rivers of waters, in a straight way wherein they shall not stumble:
for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

10 Hear the word of the Lord, 0 ye nations, and declare it

1 Or, bring them unto

the blind and the lame. These two classes of afflicted people are
often grouped together (Ex. iv. 11; Lev. xxi. 18; Dt. xv. 21; Mai. i.
8; Job xxix. 15, &c.); probably because both are unable to travel;
cf. the words which Socrates puts into the mouths of his critics, ' You
have been less out of Athens than the blind and the lame.' Crito 53 A.

hither. That is to Palestine, the writer's real or assumed location.

9. with weeping. The text is rather hard to understand. Why
should the people come with weeping? It may be that their tears
were tears of penitence for the past\ or possibly tears of joy. Lxx.
gives here, I think, the better text They went forth with weeping but
with consolation will I bring them back. Peake, who looks upon this
reading as likely to be correct, points out its similarity in tone to
various passages in 2 Is. (xl. 1 f , xhii. 1 fif., xliv. 21 ff., &c.).

rivers of water .. .straight way. Both these means by which the
return of the exiles was to be facilitated are common in 2 Is. Straight
is better rendered level as it refers to the quality of the surface of the
road, rather than to its directness. The phrase straight way occurs in
Ps. cvii. 7.

father to Israel. OT. never seems to get beyond the idea of God
as the father of the nation (cf Dt. xxxii. 6; Is. Ixiii. 16; also Jub. i.
24), or of some particular class within it : see Sanday and Headlam on
Romans i. 7.

firstborn. That Ephraim should be exalted over Judah is very
strange, and the later the passage is brought down the stranger it
becomes. There are other slight traces that Ephraim (i.e. the ten
tribes) claimed to be older than Judah (cf 2 S. xix. 43, lxx.); and in
1 Ch. V. 1 — 3 the birthright of Keuben falls to the sons of Joseph.
According to Ex. iv. 22 Israel is God's firstborn (see Dr McNeile's note)
and so Jub. ii. 20. Dr Peake would transfer this clause to the end of
V. 20 in view of the difficulty of taking it as post-exilic on the one
hand, and of attributing it to Jeremiah in its present context on the
other. Cornill looks upon it as a connecting link between v. 5 and w.
15 ff.

^ So Tanchuma on Gen. xlv. 2 which puts forward the •beautiful thought, that,
when God redeems Israel, it will be amidst their weeping.' See Edersheim, Life
and Times, &c. i. p. 169.

XXXI. IO-I3] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 233

in the isles afar oflf ; and say, He that scattered Israel will gather
him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock. 11 For the
Lord hath ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of
him that was stronger than he. 12 And they shall come and
sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together unto the good-
ness of the Lord, to the corn, and to the wine, and to the oil, and
to the young of the flock and of the herd : and their soul shall
be as a watered garden ; and they shall not sorrow any more at
all. 13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, and the young
men and the old together : for I will turn their mourning into

10 — 14. Jehovah proclaims His purposes to the nations. The
whole passage is written in the manner of 2 Is., notice the mention of
the isles, redeemed, &c.

10. isles. See on xxv. 22.

He that scattered. God was the author of their exile, and He will
be their restorer. The honour of Jehovah demanded that the heathen
should become aware that it was through no weakness or want of power
on His part that the people had been overcome by their enemies (cf.
Is. lii. 5f).

scattered. Cf. Jn. vii. 35; Jas. i. 1 ; 1 Pet. i. 1.

shepherd. The image of the shepherd was particularly dear at the
time of the exile (cf Ez. xxxiv., xxxvii.; Is. xl. 11, &c.).

12. The catalogue of ' goodness ' shews the great importance of
the agricultural and pastoral life of the community; goodness being
of course not spiritual, but material blessings, though the latter were
a sign of spiritual well-being.

in the height of Zion. So Is. h. 11. For the phrase cf Ez. xvii. 23
(height of Israel), xx. 40.

flow together. The meaning of the Heb. is not quite clear. If the
translation of RV. be retained, the returning tribes are likened to an
overflowing river which streams from .lerusalem, after the thanksgiving,
to cover the whole land (i.e. as the people go to their separate holdings
to enjoy there the bounty of the Lord). The word rendered flov) is
elsewhere translated be lightened (Ps. xxxiv. 5 ; Is. Ix. 5), and Cornill
would take it with some such meaning in this passage, 'be radiant over.'

corn... wine... oil. Better corn, must and fresh oil; it is the raw
materials that are meant. The same combination occurs in Hos. ii. 8,
22, &c., and represents the three principal products of the country.

a watered garden. The same figure is used in Is. Iviii. 11. The
meaning is that every wish or desire will be abundantly fulfilled — the
word is a strong one and saturated or soaked would better represent
the original. The metaphor would have much force in the minds of
dwellers in a thirsty land. The same figure is used in Ecclus. xxiv. 31
of a man taught by wisdom.

234 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxi. 13-15

joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their
sorrow. 14 And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness,
and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the
Lord.

15 Thus saith the Lord : A voice is heard in Ramah, lamenta-

14. satiate... the priests. The verb comes from the same root as
watered in the note above. The people are to be so prosperous that
the claims of religion and the dues of the priests will receive full
attention.

15 — 22. Rachel the ancestress of the tribes of Joseph and Benjamin
weeps over the fate of her children. This poem is certainly a genuine
and typical production of Jeremiah, and one which exhibits his deep
sensitiveness and tender sympathies. Delitzscli connects this passage
with xl. 1 seeing in it that ' word which came to Jeremiah from the
Lord after that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go
from Ramah,' a word which the compiler for some reason unknown has
omitted to record in its proper context. This suggestion has met with
favourable notice from several critics (e.g. Hitzig and Orelli), but the
connexion between the two passages is at the best precarious, and it is
difficult to suppose that Jeremiah in the hour of his nation's downfall
would be greatly concerned over the return of the ten tribes.

15. Ramah. Ramah is situated five miles to the north of Jeru-
salem and was the scene of the collecting of the Jewish prisoners for
deportation to Babylon (xl. 1). The grave of Rachel was somewhere
in the near neighbourhood for according to 1 S. x. 2 f she Avas buried
on the northern border of Benjamin (i.e. between the two tribes who
claimed her as their common mother) and not far from Bethel which is
ten miles north of Jerusalem. The traditional site of Rachel's tomb,
however, is south of Jerusalem and not far from Bethlehem. This
tradition is doubtless influenced by the quotation of this passage of
Jeremiah in connexion with the murder of the Innocents in Matt. ii.
17 £ The writer of the first gospel takes the weeping of Rachel as
a type of the weeping of the mothers of the massacred children. In
Gen. XXXV. 19 Rachel is said to have been buried 'in the way to
Ephrath ' and the statement is added, ' the same is Bethlehem ' ; this
statement is almost certainly, as Driver says, ' an incorrect gloss ' and
the Ephrath referred to must be somewhere to the north in order to
agree with the requirements of 1 S. x. 2 and the present passage. See
further Driver's note on Gen. xxxv. 19, and the thorough discussion in
PEFQS. 1912, pp. 74fi".i

1 The modern site of Rachel's tomb is marked by a shrine Kubbet Rdhel, just as
in earlier days it was marked by a sacred stone or pillar (Gen. xxxv. 19). In this
passage there is no actual mention of the tomb and it may be that Rachel is pictured
as standing on the heights of Ramah and looking down on the captives. More
probably the reference is to the widespread idea of spirits mourning round their
tombs.

xxxi. .5-19] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 235

tion, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children ; she
refuseth to be comforted for her children, because they are not.

16 Thus saith the Lord: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and
thine eyes from tears : for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the
Lord ; and they shall come again fi'om the land of the enemy.

17 And there is hope for thy latter end, saith the Lord ; and thy
children shall come again to their own border. 18 1 have surely
heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me,
and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed to the yoke : turn
thou me, and I shall be turned ; for thou art the Lord my God.
19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented ; and after that I

fo)- her cMld/i-en. Cf. Mic. i. 16; Is. xlix. 21 (Jerusalem bereaved
of her children), Ixiii. 16 (the expected interest of the ancestor in his
descendants).

refuseth to be coinfm-ted. So Jacob when told of the supposed death
of Joseph (Gen. xxxvii. 35).

16. Refrain. ' Rachel's hundred years of weeping are almost at
an end' (Duhm) so the prophet dares to think; but his tender message
sent to the mother in the hopeless abandon of her grief was not
destined to be fulfilled.

th^/ work. Rachel like any other mother had laboured for her
children and all her care and watchfulness seemed lost, she had laboured
in vain and 'brought forth for calamity' (Is. Ixv. 23) ; but now they are
to return and her work will be rewarded (cf. 2 Ch. xv. 7).

18. I have... heard. Cf. iii. 21. The words are spoken by Jehovah,
but the V. represents another hopeful anticipation, by the prophet, of
Ephraim's repentance. Jeremiah, in his earlier days, lived in the con-
stant expectation of seeing his dreams fulfilled and both parts of the
nation aroused to a sense of their sin.

calf. The metaphor is derived from agriculture; if the calf submits
the yoke is easy, if it resist-s the yoke is hard, but must still be borne,
cf. Hos. iv. 16. Calf is better translated young bullock (see Dr McNeile's
note on Ex. xxxii. 4). According to Duhm, Jeremiah looked upon the
Northern Kingdom as having perished in its youth before it had yet
had time to learn.

turn tlwu me. Ephraim recognises the purpose of the chastisement
and prays to be delivered.

19. Surely... repented. According to this translation Ephraim's
repentance was the result, and not the cause, of his return. This
process is a reversal of what is usual 'Pain first, and then the joy of
health restored'; and some scholars take turned here as referring to
turning away from God ; others get rid of the diiSculty by omitting
the words, Duhm renders Surely I repented after I was chastised, I

236 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxi. 19-22

was instructed, I smote upon my thigh : I was ashamed, yea, even
confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. 20 Is
Ephraim my dear son? is he a pleasant child? for as often as I
speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still : therefore
my bowels '^are troubled for him ; I will surely have mercy upon
him, saith the Lord. 21 Set thee up waymarks, make thee guide-
posts: set thine heart toward the high way, even the way by which
thou wentest : turn again, 0 virgin of Israel, turn again to these
thy cities. 22 How long wilt thou go hither and thither, 0 thou
backsliding daughter? for the Lord hath created a new thing in
the earth, A woman shall encompass a man.

^ Heb. sound.

smote upon my thigh. This reading gives a good sense but it does not
account for the Heb.

smote upon my thigh. So Ez. xxi. 12.

20. This V. is one of the Lessons for the New Year service of the
Jewish synagogue (see/. Th. S. 1915, p. 182). In it the prophet represents
Jehovah as a human father thinking with tenderness of the son whom
he has had to punish, and now that the punishment is over he longs
for the son's return. David's longing for the return of Absalom from
his banishment gives a good instance of the feelings which are here
attributed to God (2 S. xiii. 37—39).

21. waymarks... guide-posts. The Israelites are immediately to
begin to prepare for the return by sending out pioneers to mark out
the way back to Palestine. The word for guide-posts occurs here only
and the translation depends on the parallelism.

22. The Israelites are called upon to make up their minds, and to
abandon their want of faith; in order to encourage them a sign is
promised. Cf Jud. vi. 36 ff. (Gideon); Is. vii. 11 if . (Ahaz).

go hither and thither. Here and Cant. v. 6.

created. 'The root signifies to cut... so probably the proper meaning
is to fashion by cutting, to shape. In the simple conjugation, however,
it IS used exclusively of God, to denote viz. the production of some-
thing fundamentally new, by the exercise of a sovereign power ori-
ginative, altogether transcending that possessed by man.' Driver on
Gen. i. 1. The word is used in a figurative sense in Is. xliii. 1,15,
xlv. 8, Ixv. 17, &c. ; cf. also Nu. xvi. 30 'if the Lord creates a creation'
(so Heb.).

A woman, &c. No satisfactory explanation of this 'created sign'
has ever been discovered by critics; something quite outside the
natural order of human experience is obviously foretold, but whether it
has any direct connexion with the actual event of the return or not,
is impossible to say (cf the sign in Is. vii. 14 'a virgin shall conceive').

xxxL 23-26] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 237

23 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel : Yet again
shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities
thereof, when I shall ^ bring again their captivity: The Lord bless
thee, 0 habitation of justice, O mountain of holiness. 24 And
Judah and all the cities thereof shall dwell therein together ; the
husbandmen, and they that go about with flocks. 25 For I have
satiated the weary soul, and every sorrowful soul have I re-
plenished. 26 Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep

* Or, return to

It is perhaps not uninteresting to record the attempts which have been
made at various times to explain the phrase; no doubt it had its
meaning for those for whom it was written, and indeed may be a refer-
ence to a popular proverb, but all clue to it has now been lost, (a) The
woman shall woo the man, i.e. Israel shall court Jehovah (Cheyne; but
cf. Critica Biblica, pp. 70 f. for his later ideas) ; (6) the woman shall
protect the man, i.e. Israel shall protect Jehovah (that is the temple);
or taking the phrase Hterally, a time of peace is coming in which the
protection of the man will be unnecessary ; (c) a woman shall be turned
into a man'. This suggestion, which involves a slight change in the
Heb., alone seems to satisfy tbe need for a 'portent'; it was first sug-
gested by Ewald and is explained as a promise that the woman Israel
shall be endowed with manly courage; {d) ?eaxm\\ On the Creed takes
the sign as being a forecast of the miraculous conception of our Lord, and
quotes passages from Jewish writers which definitely apply the prophecy
to the Messiah.

23 — 30. The promise of restoration to Ephraim is also to be made
to Judah. This passage is similar in many ways to m. 12 — 14, and, as
it presupposes the fall of Jerusalem, is probably later than Jeremiah ;
nor would the prophet have been likely to refer to the capital as the
mountain of holiness.

23. hahitation of justice... mountain of holiness. Cf. 1. 7; Zech.viii. 3
'a city of truth. ..the holy mountain'; Ps. ii. 6; Is. Ixvi. 20.

25. This V. recalls the promises of w. 12 and 14. Cf. Matt. xi. 28 ff.;
Jn. vii. 37.

26. my sleep. It is not quite clear who is the speaker in this v.
The consensus of opinion is against attributing the words to either
God or the exiles, and the most suitable speaker is the prophet himself.
The words just uttered have come to him in a vision, and the nature
of its contents are of a sufficiently pleasant character to justify the
epithet sweet. It is hardly likely that the passage can be from Jere-
miah as his estimate of the value of the revelations which come through
dreams is too well known (see xxiii. 25).

" 1 Hippocrates and Pliny found no difficulty in believing accounts of such trans-
formations ; and in later times Casaubon accepted them as did Bishop Burnet (see
Mark Pattison, Isaac Casaubon, pp. -IJ? f.).

238 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxi. .6-31

was sweet unto me. 27 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with
the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. 28 And it shall
come to pass, that like as I have watched over them to pluck up
and to break down, and to overthrow and to destroy, and to
afflict ; so will I watch over them to build and to plant, saith the
Lord. 29 In those days they shall say no more. The fathers have
eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.
30 But every one shall die for his own iniquity : every man that
eateth the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.

31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a

27 f. These vv. may well come from Jeremiah. The land to which
the exiles will return will be only thinly populated and like an unsown
field ; God will till it and sow it (Ez. xxxvi. 9) with the seeds of men
and of beasts, and so make it populous. Cf the legend of Cadmus,
who sowed the teeth of the dragon which he had slain, and from them
there sprang up armed men who became the first inhabitants of his
city, Cadmeia, afterwards called Thebes. The threat that Israel should
be greatly reduced in number is constantly held out (Ez. xxxvi. 12, &c.),
and it was substantially fulfilled, for even in the time of Nehemiah
the people — or at any rate those of them who had returned to Palestine —
were few in number (Neh. vii. 4). The promise of restoration and
multiplication is however still remembered (Is. xxvi. W — 19: Ez. xxxvi.
36; Hos. i. 10; Zech. ii. 4).

28. Cf i. 10, and 11 f

30 f This passage attacks a doctrine, which, based as it was on the
primitive idea of the solidarity of the tribe or nation, was widely pre-
valent. If any member of the body corporate sinned his relatives were
involved in his guilt, and, if his ofii'ence were against the tribe law or
custom they were liable to punishment; if the offence were against
another tribe or one of its members, the whole body might be involved
in a blood feud (see, further, Introd. pp. liv f ). The same proverbial
expression of the doctrine is found in Ez. xviii. 2. The genuineness of
the passage here has been denied as it seems to regard the doctrine 'as
justifiable under the present conditions, but as inapplicable and un-
called for in the time to which he looks forward,' and that 'such a
judgement we cannot easily reconcile with what we know of Jeremiah'
(Dr Peake). But surely the writer is attacking a popular saying, and
his meaning is that God's action in restoring the innocent descendants
of the original exiles will take away any justification that there was,
even to the popular mind, for the ideas underlying the proverb. Cf. a
similar proverb derived from agricultural life in Hos. viii. 7.

31 — 34. In the age of the restoration the people will have God's
laws written on their hearts, and will not be dependent for their know-

xxxi. 3«-34] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 239

new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of
Judah : 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them
out of the land of Egypt; ^ which my covenant they brake,
although I was -an husband unto them, saith the Lord. 33 But
this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after
those days, saith the Lord ; I will put my law in their inward
parts, and in their heart will I write it ; and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people : 34 and they shall teach no more
every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of
them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord : for I will forgive

1 Or, forasmuch as they brake imj covenant ^ Or, lord over them

ledge of His will upon an external code. All will know God. This
passage is one of the most important in the Old Dispensation and a
forecast of that New Covenant which our Blessed Lord sealed with
His own blood (Matt. xxvi. 28). For an estimate of the teaching of
the doctrine see Introd. pp. li ff., and for a discussion of its authorship
see note pp. 241 ff.

31. covenant. For the meaning and use of the term see note, pp. 243 f
and with the house of Judah. This phrase is almost certainly a

gloss (cf. V. 33) and its removal brings the v. into the Qinah rhythm.

32. The negative description of the covenant; it is not to be like
the one made at Sinai which has proved ineffective.

in the day. See on vii. 22.

by the hand. Cf Hos. xi. 1—4; Dt. i. 31.

husband unto them. The Heb. word Baal may mean either lord or
husband (cf Hos. ii. 16 where the nation is told no more to use the
ambiguous word in addressing .Jehovah, but to call him Ishi, i.e. vir),
hence mg. reading lord over them. Recent scholars adopting an emenda-
tion proposed by Giesebrecht, an emendation which involves the change
of a single letter only in the Heb. , read and I abhorred them ; this
reading is supported by lxx. (cf the quotation in Heb. viii. 9) and Syr.

33. / ivill put my law. 'God's word, not in a book but in the
heci,rt and mouth of His servants, is the ultimate ideal as well as the
first postulate of prophetic theology.' W. Robertson Smith, O.T. in
Jewish Church, p. 300. Mr C J. Ball compares the prayer of Nabopo-
lassar '0 Sin... the Fear of thy Great Godhead' in the heart of their
people do Thou implant'

34. In this v. the knowledge of God is closely connected with for-
giveness and the removal of that sin which is the great hindrance to
its attainment. Cf St Augustine 'Man being renewed in his mind,
and able to discern and understand the truth, needs no more any
direction of man.' Conf. xiii. 22. This v. is apparently referred to by

240 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxi. 34-3T

their iniquity, and their sin will I remember no more. 35 Thus
saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the
ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night,
which ^stirreth up the sea, that the waves thereof roar ; the Lord
of hosts is his name : 36 If these ordinances depart from before
me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from
being a nation for ever. 37 Thus saith the Lord : If heaven above
can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out
beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that

i Or, stilleth the sea, ivhen (&c. See Is. li. 15.

NT. and patristic writers (e.g. Jn. vi. 45; 1 Cor. ii. 13; 1 Thes. iv. 9;
and Ep. Barn. § 21; Athenag. Leg. § 11, &c.), though possibly the
reference in these cases is rather to Is. Kv. 13 'all thy sons shall be
taught of God.'

35 — 40. The survival of Israel is as certain as the eternity of the
ordinances which control the world of nature: Jerusalem is not only to
be preserved, but to be greatly enlarged. These vv. with their strongly
national tone come somewhat strangely after the passage recording the
promise of the New Covenant, and it is hard to imagine that Jere-
miah is responsible for them, or, at any rate, for their position. The last
part of the section {vv. 38 — 40) is almost certainly late and bears
marked similarities to Zech. xiv. (cf. Is. liv. 2) ; _ the mind of Jeremiah
was too wide in its outlook to stoop to details such as the future
topography of the Holy City. The earher part {vv. 35—37) if it is a
genuine utterance must be a fragment. Critics are not agreed as to the
authorship, some condemning the passage for the extreme nationalism
exhibited, as well as for its prosaic style. Giesebrecht finds parallels to
the later chh. of Isaiah (see especially xl. 12, 26, xHi. 5, xhv. 24 fF.,

xlv. 7, 18).

35. ordinances. In Gen. i. 16 ff. God is said to have given the two
great luminaries to divide the light from the darkness, and it is to this
behef that the present passage points; a similar statement is found in
Ps. cxxxvi. 7 — 9, and one which is indeed nearer to this in form.
Cf Ps. Sol. xviii. 13f.

the Lord of hosts. So in Am. iv. 13, v. 8, ix. 6 (all passages dealing
with the creation).

36. If these &c. Our Lord used still stronger language ' Heaven and
earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away' Mk. xiii. 31.

a nation. The preservation of the Jews as a separate people is one
of the greatest miracles of history; probably the writer of these words
thought not so much of the national existence in itself as of the peculiar
privileges which the people enjoyed in being the chosen of God ; cf next v.

37. In order to deepen the impression of Israel's stability a further
comparison is made, not this time to the eternity of the heavens, but

XXXI. 37-4o] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 241

they have done, saith the Lord, 38 Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower
of Hananel unto the gate of the corner. 39 And the measuring
line shall yet go out straight onward unto the hill Gareb, and
shall turn about unto Goah. 40 And the whole valley of the dead
bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook Kidron,
unto the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy
unto the Lord ; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any
more for ever.

to their immensity. (Cf. Job xi. 8; Enoch xciii. 14.) In lxx. this v.
comes before v. 35; it is possibly a marginal gloss which has been
incorporated into the text.

38. the city. The various places named in this account are intended
to shew the boundaries of the Jerusalem of the return; not much, how-
ever, is known of them, and so it is not possible to say how much larger
the new city was than the old one (see PEFQS. Jan. 1912, p. 28, for a
discussion of the places named).

the tower of Hananel. Mentioned also in Zech. xiv. 10; and Neh.
iii. 1, xii. 39 ; the latter passages locate it at the NE. corner of the
city wall.

gate of the corner. See also Zech. xiv. 10; 2 K. xiv. 13 ; 2 Ch. xxvi. 9,
The corner gate seems to have been at the NW. end of the wall.

39. Gareb. ..Goah. Nothing further is known of these places, they
are evidently on the W. and S. of the wall.

40. the... valley of the dead bodies. The valley of Hinnom to S. of
Jerusalem (see on vii. 31).

horse gate. Mentioned in Neh. iii. 27 f ; it was on SE. of Jerusalem.

holy. Every place included within the boundaries of the city, even
those which were before held to be unclean like Hinnom, was to be
considered Jioly, the city itself was to be a vast sanctuary ; hence per-
haps the omission of any mention of the temple.

Additional Note on the Authorship of xxxi. 31 — 34.

These vv. have been described by Coniill as 'the cUmax and crown of
Jeremiah's prophetic activity,' and with certain exceptions, to be considered
later, critics have conchided that the passage as a whole is the work of the
prophet himself Those who do not accept the accuracy of Cornill's statement,
at any rate as regards authorship, may be divided into two classes ; writers who
reject xxx. and xxxi. as a whole and this passage with them, e.g. Smend (in
A. T. Religionsgesch. pp. 239 fF.), Stade (Gesch. d. Volk. Isr. i. p. 643), and
Schmidt {Enc. Bib. 934, 2391); and those who reject the dp. on their own
merits, amongst which class the outstanding name is Duhm. The first class of
B. 16

242 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

critics has been dealt with in the Introd. to xxx., xxxi., though it is interesting
to notice that Hitzig, who sees much in the chh. which comes from 2 Is. (follow-
ing Movers), is firmly convinced of the genuineness of this oracle. The arguments
of Duhm, as the representative of the latter class, must now be considered.

It should be stated first of all that Duhm only rejected these vv. after much
consideration and with obvious reluctance, which needless to say makes his
condemnation all the more weighty. His arguments are arranged under two
main heads: style and contents. The style of the prophecy is condemned as
bad, cumbersome, and inexact, neither has it any of those figures of speech
which distinguish even the shorter poems of Jeremiah, whilst it contains phrases
which are typical of the supplementer. It will perhaps simplify the discussion
if these criticisms are dealt with immediately before going on to state Duhm's
objections to the matter of the prophecy which are of a much more serious
nature. The objections to the style of the passage are easily met, so it seems
to the present writer ; in the first place no one would deny that the prophecy
as it is preserved in the text has received small and unimportant additions
from a later hand, but after laying aside such words and phrases, so careful a
critic as Cornill is able to say of the passage that it is a 'rhythmic, elevated
and articulate discourse.' The truth of the matter is that Duhm, in considering
questions of style, is prejudiced by his own somewhat arbitrary notions of what
is Jeremiah's workmanship and what is not; he is unable to apply to any
particular passage a sufficiently wide standard of comparison, since for him
what is genuine and typical of the prophet is limited to a small number of
poems written in one particular metre.

Duhm's arguments against the contents of the prophecy must now be
stated. He sees in the passage not an attempt to put into words a highly
spiritual doctrine, but the efforts of a legalistic scribe to defend and enforce the
law; the promise that was needed was not that the 'law' should be written on
men's hearts, but that an entirely new law should be given ; as it stands the
New Covenant is no advance on the teaching of such passages as Dt. vi. 6—8
and xxx. llff. which recognise the necessity of the law being ever 'on the
heart' and emphasise its 'nearness'; the knowledge of God and the knowledge
of the law are not the same thing. Duhm makes the further objection that the
interpretation of the passage which sees in it a promise of a spiritual bond
between God and the individual must face the question why the original
covenant had no such provision. This last objection can be dismissed with a
few words ignoring as it does the progressive nature of God's revelation.
Why, it might equally well be asked, did not our Lord appear on earth at the
creation 5 why was not man made capable of receiving the full knowledge of
God from the very first I To state such questions is to answer them, or rather
is sufficient to shew that no answer is possible ; these matters of times and
seasons are in the hands of God Himself and it is not for man to know them.
The course and development of history, alike in religion and politics, we can
indeed trace out, but the deeper questions of ultimate origin and control are
beyond the grasp of finite minds.

THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 243

Duhm's main argument, then, is that the doctrine of the New Covenant is
not a spiritualising of the Old, not a step forward in the evolution of religion,
but a desire to rivet still firmer upon the Jewish Cliurch the fetters of a formal
law. He protests against the danger of being led away by phrases which have
at different times quite different meanings; in his eyes the doctrine is not
worthy of a prophet whose ideas of religion were those of Jeremiah. There is
not a sufficient antithesis between the passage and Deuteronomy. All these
arguments to an unprejudiced mind seem purely arbitrary; Duhm first of all
reads into the vo. his own meaning, and then proceeds to shew that from the
standpoint of his interpretation they could not have come from Jeremiah ; he
is sufficiently candid to admit that if the genuineness of the passage could be
proved its importance would be very great, because it would then present that
antithesis to the teaching of Deuteronomy which in his opinion would be found
in a genuine utterance of Jeremiah. It is hard to sympathise with special
pleading of this nature, and, as in the question of style, Duhm seems to have
been led away by his preconceived notions.

Cornill, in his admirable refutation of the arguments of Duhm, begins by
making clear what Jeremiah meant by the Old Covenant which the new teaching
was to replace, and from this basis he proceeds to demonstrate the true
spirituality of the conception of the New Covenant and its fitness to be the
crown of the prophet's preaching.

Before enquiring what Jeremiah meant by the Old Covenant, however, it
vpill be well to ask ourselves what is the real meaning of the Hebrew word
n''")? (perlth) which is rendered covenant in B W. In ordinary usage a covenant
is an agreement, but such a meaning is too narrow for the original word.
Dr McNeile in the note in his commentary on Exodus gives as its nearest
English equivalent obligation, and he points out further that an obligation may
be imposed upon another or upon oneself, or that mutual obligations may be
incurred^. The covenant which Jeremiah has in mind is the series of mutual
obligations incurred between Jehovah and Israel when He led them out of
Egypt and brought them to Sinai. In his teaching Jeremiah laid very great
stress on that part of the Covenant of Sinai which is called the Ten Words or
the Decalogue (see especially ch. vii.). These commandments had been delivered
to Israel by Moses and though written by the finger of Jehovah, they had been
written upon tables of stone (Ex. xxxi. 18) and not iipon the living heart of the
people. It is this law therefore that Duhm regards as obsolete and requiring

1 Exodus, pp. 150 ff., see also Enc. Bib. 928 ff., and the elaborate enquiry by
Valetoii in ZATIV. 189'2, pp. Iff., 224 ff., 1893, pp. 245 ff. In the opinion of the
present writer there is still room for further investigation into the early use of the
word when it was employed in a very vague way and apparently without any technical
or theological meaning at all (cf. Am. i. 9 ; Hos. ii. 20). Driver is ready to admit
that in Amos and Isaiah it has no technical meaning, but he cites Hos. vi. 7 and
viii. 1 as instances of such a use in early times. But Hos. viii. 1 is almost certainly
late (so Wellhausen, Nowack, Harper, &e.) and vi. 7 does not require any 'theologi-
cal' content, as the translation 'like men who break covenants' gives a perfectly
satisfactory sense.

16—2

244 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

to be done away with, but it will surely be admitted that the Decalogue is still
the basis of morality, and One greater than Jeremiah was not ashamed to con-
fess that He came not to destroy the law but to fulfil it (Matt. v. 17). The New
Covenant was indeed the promise of this 'fulfilment' of the Covenant at Sinai,
because it was to spiritualise that Covenant and to enable men to carry it out'.
The law was to be written no longer on tables of stone, that is it was not to
consist of mere outward ordinances, but it was to be written on the heart (cf.
Is. 1. 13 ; Joel ii. 28 f. ; Jn. vi. 15). Teaching such as this is quite what might
reasonably be expected from the lips of Jeremiah, for following the example of
his predecessor Hosea, he laid constant stress on the importance of ' knowing '
God (ii. 8, iv. 22, ix. 3, 5, 24, xxii. 16, xxiv. 7 ; cf. Hos. iv. 1, v. 4, vi. 6); further
he had already made the attempt of spiritualising the legal requirement of
circumcision (iv. 4) 2. In addition, as was pointed out above ^, the experiences
of the prophet's own life were such as to make him realise the necessity for
personal communion with God such as is the real basis of the New Covenant.
It may also be allowable to see in Jeremiah's strong conviction that the religion
of Jehovah would survive the downfall of the nation a further argument in
favour of the authenticity of this passage, postulating as it did a new and more
spiritual conception of the bond subsisting between Jehovah and His wor-
shippers*.

In conclusion the present writer, after much thought and a fresh review of
all the available evidence, feels in complete agreement with Dr W. J. Moulton
when he says that ' Every conception of the passage becomes transparent and
easy if we attribute it to Jeremiah ; all the difficulties arise if it is of late date
and unknown authorship ^'

Chapter XXXH.
The Purchase of the Field at Anathoth.

This ch., like that which follows it, comes from a time when Jeremiah was
imprisoned in the court of the guard {v. 2 ; cf. xxxiii. 1). Incidents such as that
which it relates, the request that the next of kin should exercise the right or
duty of buying the family possessions in order that they should not pass into
alien hands, must have been no uncommon thing in Judah ; what made it so

1 Cf. Vatke, Bihl. Theol. p. 526,

2 Duhm's own note on this passage is interesting in view of bis rejection of
xxxi. 31 ff.

3 Introd. pp. lii f.

* The following references to special covenants between Jehovah and His people
contained in later writers are interesting, though of course no certain arguments
cao be based upon them: 'I will make an everlasting covenant with you' (Is. Iv. 3,
cf. Ixi. 8; Ez. xvi. 60, xxxvii. 26); 'this is my covenant, &c. ' (Is. lix. 21); 'people
in whose heart is my law' (Is. Ii. 7) ; 'I will make with them a covenant of peace'
(Ez. xxxiv. 25, cf. xxxvii. 26).

® See his article in The Expositor, 1906, pp. 370 ff.

XXXII. 1-4] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 245

striking on this occasion was that the actual property sold was at the time
occupied by the Chaldean armies who were besieging Jerusalem. The offer
which Hanamel made to Jeremiah seemed to the prophet a divinely sent op-
portunity of shewing his faith in the restoration of the nation, and his belief in
the over-ruling hand of God (cf. Introd. p. Ixv). The incident itself is described
in quite a brief manner, though full details ai"e given {vv. 6 — 15), and it seems
probable that the rest of the ch. consists mainly of editorial additions. The
discussion of these additions will be dealt with in the introduction to each
section. The following are the divisions of the ch. :

{a) The prophet's circumstances at the time of the purchase. 1 — 5.

(b) The description of the transaction. 6 — 15.

(c) The p>rophefs doubts and the Divine reply. 16 — 27.

{d) The fate of Jerusalem and the sins which have made it inevitable.

28—35.
{e) The promise of restoration. 36 — 44.

XXXII. 1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord
in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the
eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. 2 Now at that time the
king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem : and Jeremiah the
prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the
king of Judah's house. 3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut
him up, saying, Wlierefore dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus
saith the Lord, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the
king of Babylon, and he shall take it ; 4 and Zedekiah king of

XXXII. 1 — 5. A description of the exact date of the purchase and
of the situation in which the prophet found himself at the time. The %w.
are almost certainly the work of an editor supplied in order to acquaint
the reader with the desperate position both of the prophet himself and
also of the state.

1. the tenth year. As the siege began in Zedekiah's ninth year
(xxxix. 1) afiairs were probably getting very desperate.

2. was shut up. Jeremiah had been arrested on attempting to
leave the city during the short interval which elapsed between the
Chaldean withdrawal from Jerusalem on the approach of an Egyptian
army and their return to continue the siege (xxxvii. 5, 11 — 15). Duhm
and Cornill were both of the opinion that the incident took place before
the resumption of the siege, but the latter in the Introduction to his
Commentary (p. xxxvi) withdraws his statement to this effect contained
in the body of the work (p. 248).

the court of the guard. This was near to the king's palace (Neh.
iii. 25), and was evidently used as a place of detention for political or
other prisoners who were not to be imprisoned with the common folk.

3 — 5. These w. explain why Jeremiah was imprisoned.

240 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxii. 4-^

Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but
shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon,
and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall
behold his eyes ; 5 and he shall lead Zedekiah to Babylon, and
there shall he be until I visit him, saith the Lord : though ye
fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper?

6 And Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came unto me,
saying, 7 Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall
come unto thee, sayijig. Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth :
for the right of redemption is thine to buy it. 8 So Hanamel
mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the guard according
to the word of the Lord, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray
thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin : for
the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine ;
buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the
Lord. 9 And I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel
mine uncle's son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen

5. visit kirn. Visitation, as St Jerome says, may mean either con-
solation or punishment. In this case it probably meant death.

6—15. The visit of Hanamel and the sale of the field to Jeremiah
in the presence of witnesses and with all the necessary legal formalities.

6. A7id Jeremiah said &c. lxx. has a simpler text reading The
wai'd of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying.

7. Hanamel the son of Shallum thine uncle. It is clear from vv. 8
and 9 that it was Shallum who was the prophet's uncle.

Anathoth. See Introd. p. xxviii.

the right of redemption. Amongst the Hebrews, as amongst other
Semitic peoples, every effort was made to prevent land from passing
out of the possession of a family and going to strangers (cf Lev. xxv.
24 f ; Ruth iv. 6 ; and, for the custom with the Arabs, see Doughty,
Arabia Deserta, 11. p. 116). The right of the next-of-kin included the
power of buying back the land even if it had been sold, but there is no
reason for supposing that Hanamel had already disposed of the field.
He was evidently a refugee in Jerusalem and perhaps in financial diffi-
culties owing to his position, and therefore he came to his kinsman to
raise money by the sale of his property.

8. which... Benjamin. Jeremiah hardly needed to be told the situa-
tion of his own home ; lxx. rightly omits.

9. The prophet buys the field for the normal price in spite of its
being in the possession of the besiegers; cf Livy xxvi. 11 where the
actual ground on which Hannibal's army was encamped was sold by
public auction in Rome.

seventeen shekels. The shekel was worth about 2s. ^d. of English

XXXII. 9-1 6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 247

shekels of silver. 10 And I subscribed the deed, and sealed it,
and called witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.

11 So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed,
^according to the law and custom, and that which was open:

12 and I delivered the deed of the purchase unto Baruch the son
of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel mine
uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed
the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the
court of the guard. 13 And I charged Baruch before them,
saying, 14 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel : Take
these deeds, this deed of the purchase, both that which is sealed,
and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel;
that they may continue many days. 15 For thus saith the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel : Houses and fields and vineyards shall
yet again be bought in this land.

16 Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase unto

1 Or, containing the terms and conditions

money though its purchasing power was much greater. It is interesting
to compare the prices paid in other similar transactions : Abraham paid
for the field of Ephron and the cave of Machpelah four hundred shekels
(Gen. xxiii. 16); David paid fifty shekels for the threshing-floor of
Araunah together with the oxen (2 S. xxiv. 24).

10. vjitnesses. As in Gen. xxiii. 16. Witnesses were customsivy in
Babylonian land transactions (AT^. iv.p. 109 fl".), and in the Assuan papyri
eight are apparently necessary. In Jeremiah's case the witnesses served
a double purpose, they made the purchase binding, and also they bore
testimony to future ages of the prophet's trust in God (of. Is. viii. 1 ff".).

11. The details of the legal customs described in this v. at one
time caused some amount of difficulty; the discovery of similar deeds
in Babylonia and Assyria has, however, removed them. It was appa-
rently the usual thing to enclose the actual deed in an outer wrapper
which itself bore a copy of the deed (cf. Jeremias, O.T. in the Light of
the Ancient East, ii. p. 281; Johns, Bab. and Ass. Laws, &c. pp. 10 f.).
Commercial customs in the East go back to the remotest antiquity, an
article in the Asiatic Quarterly Rev. Oct. 1901, describes the system
in use in Susa before 4000 B.C. Contract tablets from Gezer from times
earlier than Jeremiah shew the influence of Assyrian customs.

12. Baruch. This is the first mention of Jeremiah's faithful friend
and secretary, and the man to whom we probably owe most of the book of
Jeremiah. In the apocryphal epistle of Baruch the genealogy is carried
several stages further back. See Introd. pp. Ixxiv f

16—27. The prophet's doubts. In spite of the far-seeing faith

248 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxii. i6-,o

Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the Lord, saying,
17 Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast ma^e the heaven and the
earth by thy great power and by thy stretched out arm ; there
is nothing too ^hard for thee: 18 which she west mercy unto
thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the
bosom of their children after them : the great," the mighty God,
the Lord of hosts is his name: 19 great in counsel, and mighty
in work : whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of
men ; to give every one according to his ways, and according to
the fruit of his doings : 20 which didst set signs and wonders

^ Or, wonderful

which Jeremiah exhibited in buying the field of Hanamel, and buying
it in so striking a manner, his heart began to fail him; according to
the account in this section he despaired because the fall of Jerusalem
seemed imminent. It is of course possible that a mind such as that
of Jeremiah might thus by a single bound travel from lively hope to
the deepest pessimism, but the best explanation of the passage is that
it comes from an interpolator. Jeremiah had too frequently faced the
certainty of the fall of the city, deeming it a necessary preliminary to
the ultimate recovery of the nation, to be^dismayed because it was about
to come to pass. The actual contents of the section, consisting as they
do of a collection of phrases found elsewhere in the prophet's writings
and the book of Deuteronomy, are not such as to restore confidence in
its genuineness. The long and elaborate introduction leading up to
a prayer which consists of two vv. only, is unlike Jeremiah, and indeed
finds a close parallel in Neh. ix. 5—38. Many critics look upon the
pra}^er itself {vv. 24 f.) as genuine, but in this case it seems best to
follow Dnhm, and, in view of the difficulties named above, to reject it.
Although the introductory passage is out of proportion to the matter
which \t introduces it is in itself no unskilful composition ; it begins
by reciting the power and the mercy of God {vv. 17—19), especially
as shewn in the history of the chosen people {vv. 20—22), and ends
with a statement of their ingratitude {v. 23).

17. stretched out arm. This phrase as a rule refers to Jehovah's
interventions in history and not to His creative activity: cf v. 21;
Ps. cxxxvi. 12; and see on xxvii. 5.

there is... hard for thee. Quoted in Enoch Ixxxiv. 3. lxx. reads
hidden for hard.

18. unto thousands. There is here a reference to the Decaloffue
(Ex. XX. 5 ; Dt. v. 9).

the bosom. In the robe of an Eastern the folds at the bosom were
used as a pocket (cf. Ruth iii. 15; Is. xl. 11, &c.). The figurative
use of the phrase is also found in Is. Ixv. 6; Ps. Ixxix. 12.

19. all tJm ways. Cf Jn. ii. 25.

20. didst set. C£ Dt. vi. 22; Neh. ix. 10.

xxxn. 20-^28] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 249

in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, ^both in Israel and
among other men ; andf madest thee a name, as at this day ;
21 and didst bring forth thy people Israel out of the land of
Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand,
and with a stretched out arm, and with great terror; 22 and
gavest them this land, which thou didst swear to their fathers
to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey ; 23 and they
came in, and possessed it ; but they obeyed not thy voice, neither
walked in thy law; they have done nothing of all that thou
commandedst them to do : therefore thou hast caused all this
evil to come upon them : 24 behold the mounts, they are come
unto the city to take it ; and the city is given into the hand of
the Chaldeans that fight against it, because of the sword, and of
the famine, and of the pestilence : and what thou hast spoken is
come to pass; and, behold, thou seest it. 25 And thou hast
said unto me, 0 Lord God, Buy thee the field for money, and
call witnesses; whereas the city is given into the hand of the
Chaldeans.

26 Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying,
27 Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any
thing too hard for me ?

28 Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will give this

1 Or, and

unto this day. The expression is hard to explain, perhaps in the
land of Egypt is a gloss as Cornill thinks; or it may be that the memory
of the wonders was still maintained, and it was thus possible to speak
of them by a slight exaggeration as continuing to this day.

Israel... men. For a similar contrast see Jud. xvi. 7; Ps. Ixxiii. 5.

madest thee a name. Cf. Geji. xi. 4; Is. Ixiii. 12, 14.

21. This V. is very similar to Dt. xxvi. 8; cf. also Ex. xv, 14;
Dt. ii. 25, iv. 34; Josh. ii. 9 ff., &c.

22. Cf. xi. 5 ; and see Neh. ix. 22—35.

23. Cf. xi. 8.

24. the mounts. Cf. vi. 6.

is given. The city is as good as lost al#|ady so far have the siege
works of the Chaldeans progressed.

26 f. In these two vv. God reassures the prophet by emphasising
His omnipotence.

27. of all flesh. Cf Nu. xvi. 22, xxvii. 16; Job xii. 10; Am. ix. 7.

too hard. Cf. the positive statement in v. 11.

28 — 35. This section in its attitude is quite in accordance with

250 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxii. 18-54

city into the hand of the Qhaldeans, and into the hand of Nebu-
chadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it: 29 and the
Chaldeans, that fight against this city, shall come and set this
city on fire, and burn it, with the houses, upon whose roofs they
have ofiered incense unto Baal, and poured out drink offerings
unto other gods, to provoke me to anger. 30 For the children
of Israel and the children of Judah have only done that which
was evil in my sight from their youth : for the children of Israel
have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands,
saith the Lord. 31 For this city hath been to me a provocation
of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it
even unto this day ; that I should remove it from before my face :
32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the
children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger,
they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,
and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 And
they have turned unto me the back, and not the face : and though
I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have
not hearkened to receive instruction. 34 But they set their
abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile

the usual teaching of Jeremiah — the fate of the nation will be the fruit
of its own sin and folly — but as a reply from God to the prophet's
doubts it is most unsuitable.

29. upon whose roofs. Is this a reference to the worship of the
^avenly bodies ? (cf. Zeph. i. 5).

30. This V. contains two difficulties; Jeremiah has elsewhere
spoken in quite a different tone of the youth of Israel (ii. 2 ; cf. Hos.
xi. 1) ; and the sins of the children of Israel are hardly a reason for the
destruction of Jerusalem. The latter half of the v. is missing from lxx.
probably correctly as the phrase children of Israel is used in two quite
different senses in the two halves of the v.

31. Ezekiel takes the same view of the sin of Jerusalem but
attributes it to the heathen origin of the city (xvi. 3 — 6). This pre-
sent V. suggests that the city had been built by the Israelites, but the
reference is perhaps to its rebuilding when it became the chief city of
Israel (2 S. v. 9).

33. For the figure of God as the Teacher of His people, cf Is.
xlviii. 17; Ps. Ixxi. 17.

34 f. These vv. are very similar to vii. 30 f. where see notes.

34. their abominations. For a description of the illegal objects of
worship which were introduced by the last generation of the men of
Judah into the house of God, see Ez. v. 11, viii. 6ff.

XXXII. 34-36] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 251

it. 35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the
valley of the son of Hinnom,to cause their sons and their daughters
to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them
not, neither came it into my ^mind, that they should do this
abomination ; to cause Judah to sin.

36 And now therefore thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel,

^ Heb. heart.

35. Baal... Molech. The two deities are apparently identified.
As was pointed out above (see on vii. .31), Molech is probably intended
for Melech, the Heb. for king, and tbe title king was applied to various
gods by the Phoenicians (see Dr Barnes' note in the Camb. Bible on
1 K. xi. 5). A Phoenician deity named Melechbaal ('pyna'po) is men-
tioned in CIS. 147, 194, 380. At the same time the later part of the
V. seems to regard the sacrifices as offered to Jehovah Himself, as it is
He who protests that He never commanded them (cf vii. 22) ; it
should not be forgotten that the titles both of Baal and Melech are
applied to Jehovah (Hos. ii. 16; Lev. xviii. 21, xx. 2 — 5)\

to pass through the fire. The exact meaning or manner of the rite
has been lost. It is not absolutely necessary to look upon it as a
sacrifice, it may have been merely a ceremony of purification, though
the destruction of the children is almost certain : cf. Nu. xxxi. 23, and
see E71C. Bib. 3184; Frazer, Magic Art, ii. p. 232; Adonis, ii. p. 219.

36 — 44. The promise of restoration. The fate of the city is
certain, it is to be given up to the sword, the pestilence and the famine,
the three invariable accompaniments of every prolonged siege. But
none the less the future contains a hope which is equally certain, the
nation will be restored once more to its own land, and at the same
time a closer relationship will be made possible between Jehovah and
the individual Israelite. The genuineness of this section has been
much more readily recognised than that of the previous vv. though
the majority of scholars reject it (e.g. Duhm, Cornill and Giesebrecht).
There are considerable difficulties to be faced by those who regard the
vv. as coming from Jeremiah himself; v. 37, for example, looks upon
the dispersion as already accomplished, and v. 43 must be from a time
subsequent to the desolation of Judah. There is, however, in this
passage some originality, it is not merely a string of quotations, and it
is ",7ell suited to the position of the prophet as revealed in vv. 6 — 15;
the present writer is therefore disposed to follow Lr Peake in accepting
the section as ' substantially Jeremianic, but committed to writing in
its present form after the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation
of the captives had taken place. Even the reference to the deportation
is not necessarily impossible on Jeremiah's lips : cf xxiii. 3, 7, 8, xxiv. 9.'

36. therefm-e. This word seems to look back to v. 27.

1 Dr Kennett has made the interesting suggestion that the children may have
been offered originally to the reigning king regarded as an incarnation of the deity.
This suggestion has been worked out by Frazer, Adonis, ii. pp. 219 ff.

252 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxii. 36-44

concerning this city, whereof ye say, It is given into the hand of
the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by
the pestilence: 37 Behold, I will gather them out of all the
countries, whither I have driven them in mine anger, and in my
fury, and in great wrath ; and I will bring them again unto this
place, and I will cause them to dwell safely : 38 and they shall
be my people, and I will be their God : 39 and I will give them
one heart and one way, that they may fear me for ever ; for the
good of them, and of their children after them : 40 and I will
make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn
away ^from them, to do them good; and I will put my fear in
their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. 41 Yea, I will
rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this
land ^assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.
42 For thus saith the Lord : Like as I have brought all this great
evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that
I have promised them. 43 And fields shall be bought in this
land, whereof ye say. It is desolate, without man or beast ; it is
given into the hand of the Chaldeans. 44 Men shall buy fields
for money, and subscribe the deeds, and seal them, and call
witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about
Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the
hill country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities
of the South : for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the
Lord.

1 Heb. frovi after them. - Heb. in truth.

37. Cf. xxiii. 3, 6; Hos. xi. 11.

38. Cf. xxxi. 33.

39. tJiey may fear .. .after them. Cf. Dt. iv. 10, vi. 24.

40. The everlasting covenant of this v. is evidently the same as the
New Covenant of xxxi. 31 ft'. Cf. Is. Iv. 3; Ez. xvi. 60.

41. plant them. Cf. xxiv. 6, xxxi. 27 f.

my whole heart. . .soul. The phrase is Deuteronomic and is not used
elsewhere of God.

44. Cf xvii. 26 for the meaning of the various geographical
divisions of the country.

XXXIII. 1-4] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 253

Chapter XXXHI.

Further Promises of Return and Restoration.

This ch. is connected with xxxi., as was pointed out above, and involves
some of the same problems. The first half of the passage {vv. 1—13) is as a
whole probably genuine, in spite of the contrary opinion of Duhm and Cornill ;
it is necessary however to allow for the presence in it of later interpolations.
The latter part {vc. 14 — 26) has been rejected by nearly all recent scholars and
the fact that it is entirely missing from lxx. condemns it as late. It is replete
with phrases apjiarently borrowed from other parts of the book, and also con-
tains expressions which can hardly have been used in the time of Jeremiah.
The contents may be divided as follows :

(a) JehovaKs invitation to the prophet. 1 — 3.

(6) Jerusalem will fall hut her latter days will he glorious. 4 — 9.

(c) The restoration of the desolate land. 10 — 13.

{d) God will give kings and priests in due succession. 14 — 18.

ifi) The ordinances of nature are no surer than the future of Israel
19—26.

XXXIII. 1 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto Jere-
miah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of
the guard, saying, 2 Thus saith the Lord that doeth it, the Lord
that formeth it to establish it ; the Lord is his name : 3 Call
unto me, and I will answer thee, and will shew thee great things,
and difficult, which thou knowest not. 4 For thus saith the

1 Heb. fenced in.

XXXIII. 1 — 3. Jehovah calls upon Jeremiah when in the court
of the guard to share in His secret plans.

1. the second time. See xxxii. 2 for the previous occasion, and for
the expression cf. i. 13.

the court of the guard. See note on xxxii. 2.

2 f. These vv. are rejected by nearly all scholars as a later insertion
probably influenced by 2 Is. (e.g. xlv. 18, xlvii. 4, xlviii. 6). The last
part of V. 3 is strange, as the contents of the promised revelation merely
repeat what had already been declared in xxxi., xxxii.

2. that doeth it. The reading of LXX. is to be preferred who made
the earth and formed it to establish it.

3. Call unto me. Prophecy and prayer are here connected; cf.
Prov. ii. 1 — 6 (the search for wisdom). The v. is very interesting and
important as shewing the need for human cooperation if the Divine reve-
lation, which God is willing and anxious to unfold, is to become possible.

difficult. Lit. cut oj^, inaccessible; cf. mg. fenced in^.

1 Certain MSS. read ni"l1V>1 hidden for nn-l^n-l fenced in; possibly this is the
correct reading ; cf. Is. xlviii. 6.

254 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxiii. 4-9

Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and
concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken
down to make a defence against the mounts, and against the
sword: 5 They come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to
fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine
anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid
my face from this city. 6 Behold, I will bring it ^health and
cure, and I will cure them ; and I will reveal unto them abund-
ance of peace and truth, 7 And 1 will cause the captivity of
Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them,
as at the first. 8 And I m ill cleanse them from all their iniquity,
whereby they have sinned against me ; and I will pardon all their
iniquities, whereby they have sinned against me, and whereby
they have transgressed against me. 9 And this city shall be to

^ Or, healing

4 — 9. The resistance to the Chaldeans will only result in useless
bloodshed; but Jehovah Himself will bring salvation by the turning
back of the captivity of Judah and Israel.

4 f. These vv. give a vivid picture, which bears every mark of being
original, of the state of the besieged city, the breaking down of houses
to strengthen the defences, the terrible slaughter of the defenders.

4. mounts. See on vi. 6, and cf. xxxii. 24, lii. 4 ; Ez. iv. 2.

5. They come. This v. as it stands is quite evidently corrupt, for
the antecedent of they must be houses which does not make sense.
Various suggestions involving changes of a somewhat violent nature
have been put forward to simplify the v., taking, as a rule, the Chaldeans
as the subject. Cornill's reconstruction is perhaps the best. The houses
...which are broken down, against which the Chaldeans come with mounds
and swords to fight and to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom &c.

hid my face. God hides His face in anger and displeasure ; cf.
Ez. xxxix. 23; and contrast Nu. vi. 26.

6. health. Mg. healing; liierAly fresh flesh; see on viii. 22. The
object of God's compassion is probably the city regarded as a person.

abundance. The Heb. word occurs here only and from the evidence
of the versions the text is probably corrupt. Duhm would read by
a slight emendation treasures (cf. Is. x. 13).

peace and truth. It is perhaps better to read as in xiv. 1^ peace of
truth; the true peace founded on God's faithfulness and contrasted
with the vain peace of the false prophets.

7. as at the first. Cf. Hos. ii. 15; Is. i. 26.

8. cleanse them .. .pardon. The forgiveness of the past and its
obliteration from God's sight; cf. xxxi. 24; Ez. xxxvi. 25.

9. Cf. xiii. 11; Mic. vii. 151!".; Is. Ix. 5. In the latter passage
the emotion referred to is one of pleasure, see Wade ad loc.

XXXIII. 9-14] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 255

me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a glory, before all the
nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto
them, and shall fear and tremble for all the good and for all the
peace that I procure unto it. 10 Thus saith the Lord: Yet
again there shall be heard in this place, whereof ye say, It is
waste, without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah,
and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man
and without inhabitant and without beast, 11 the voice of joy
and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the
voice of the bride, the voice of them that say. Give thanks to the
Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his mercy endureth for
ever: and of them that bring sacrifices o/ thanksgiving into the
house of the Lord, For I will cause the captivity of the land to
return as at the first, saith the Lord. 12 Thus saith the Lord
of hosts : Yet again shall there be in this place, which is waste,
without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, an
habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. 13 In
the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, and in
the cities of the South, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the
places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the
flocks again pass under the hands of him that telleth them, saith
the Lord.

14 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform

10 — 13. The desolate land shall once more be inhabited and flocks
shall lie down in safety.

10 f. These vv. form the basis of the closing part of the benediction
in the Jewish Marriage Service at the present day.

11. Give thanks to the Lord &c. The people in their rejoicing do
not forget the source from which it springs. The actual form in which
they express their thanksgivings is very similar to some of the later
psalms; e.g. Ps. cvi. 1, cvii. 1, 22, &c. ; cf, also 1 Ch. xvi. 34; Ezra
iii. 11.

12. The picture of the misery and desolation of the present throws
into stronger light the joy and plenteousness of the future.

13. that telleth them. Tell, i.e. to count; cf Milton, L' Allegro, 67,
'every shepherd tells his tale'; and Dryden's translation of Virgil,
Eclogue, iii. 34 ' she takes the tale of all the lambs.' There is perhaps
a reference to Lev. xxvii. 32.

14 — 18. In the future age there shall be an unfailing succession of
kings upon the throne of David; the priests also shall never be cut
short.

256 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxiii. 14-24

that good word which I have spoken concerning the house of
Israel and concerning the house of Judah. 15 In those days,
and at that time, will I cause a ^Branch of righteousness to grow
up unto David ; and he shall execute judgement and righteous-
ness in the land. 16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and
Jerusalem shall dwell safely : and this is the name whereby she
shall be called, ^The Lord is our righteousness. 17 For thus
saith the Lord: ^ David shall never want a man to sit upon the
throne of the house of Israel ; 18 neither shall the priests the
Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to
burn * oblations, and to do sacrifice continually. 19 And the
word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying, 20 Thus saith
the Lord: If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my
covenant of the night, so that there should not be day and night
in their season; 21 then may also my covenant be broken with
David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon
his throne ; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. 22 As
the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the
sea measured ; so will I multiply the seed of David my servant,
and the Levites that minister unto me. 23 And the word of
the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 24 Considerest thou not

^ See ch. xxiii. 5. "^ See ch. xxiii. 6.

' Heb. There shall not be cut off from David. * Or, meal offerings

15 f. These vv. are closely parallel to xxiii. 5 f., xxix. 10.

16. she shall be called. In this place the title The Lord is our
righteousness is given to the city and not to the ideal king as in xxiii. 6
(cf. Ez. xlviii. 35; and the name which Gideon gave to the altar in his
city ' Jehovah-shalom '—the Lord is peace ; Jud. vi. 24).

18. the priests the Levites. Before the return from exile the terms
priest and Levite were synonymous (see Dr McNeile, Numbers, pp. xivff.,
in the Camb. Bible). Afterwards the Levites were degraded into temple-
servants and were not allowed to offer burnt offerings, to burn oblations
or to sacrifice (cf. Ez. xliv. 10 — 16; Nu. xvi. 9f.).

19 — 26. In this passage the argument from the fixity of the natural
laws is again used to prove the certainty of God's promises (cf. xxxi.
35 f ), this time with special reference to the assured continuity of the
kings and the priests. In the later vv. the same argument is used of
the restoration of both branches of the family of Israel.

21. with David. See 2 S. vii. 12—16; 1 K. ii. 4; and cf Ps.
Ixxxix. 3, cxxxii. 11, for other notices of the Davidic covenant.

24. This V. as it stands is difficult, as it is impossible to say

xxxiii. 24-26] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 257

what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which
the Lord did choose, he hath cast them off? thus do they despise
my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.

25 Thus saith the Lord: If my covenant of day and night stand
not, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth ;

26 then will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David
my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over
the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will ^ cause their
captivity to return, and will have mercy on them.

^ Or, return to their captivity

whether this people refers to Israel or to the heathen. Duhm's emenda-
tion restores the meaning Im hath cast them off, and despised his people,
that it should be tio more a nation before him.

The two Jamilies. Israel and Judah (cf. v. 26), not Levi and David.

did choose. This is the only reference to the choice of Israel in the
whole book; in Ez. also there is but one reference, xx. 5. The idea of
the choice is found in Am. iii. 2 ; Ex. xix. 5 f. and is common in Dt.

25. If mxj covenant. A slight change in the Heb. gives the reading
If I have not created (Duhm), and it is then unnecessary to supply
a verb as is done by EVV.

26. Isaac. The spelling of the original^ is unusual and found
elsewhere only in Am. vii. 9, 16; Ps. cv. 9.

CHAPTERS XXXIV.— XXXIX.

In these chapters the personal history of the prophet, which was interrupted
after xxix. 32, is once more resumed. The general subject of the division is
Jeremiah's life during the siege. Some of the events narrated in it can be
pai'alleled from the earlier chapters of the book and in the arrangement of his
matter the compiler has not been influenced by a strict regard for chronological
sequence. The contents may be grouped under the following heads :

The message to Zedekiah. xsxiv. 1 — 7.

The release of the slaves, xxxiv. 8 — 22.

The incident of the Rechabites. xxxv.

Jeremiah's roll and its fate, xxxvi.

Warnings and persecutions, xxxvii., xxxviii. 28 a.

The fall of Jerusalem, xxxviii. 28 & — xxxix. 14.

The message to Ebed-Melech. xxxix. 15 — 18.

1 pnb'^ for pnv\

258 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxiv. 1-5

Chapter XXXIV. 1—7.

The Message to Zedekiah.

The prophecy recorded in this passage was evidently delivered in the early
part of the siege and before the temporary relief brought by the approach of
the Egyptian army ; Jeremiah is still at liberty (». 6) and two other cities besides
Jerusalem are still holding out against the Babylonians (». 7).

XXXIV. 1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the
Lord, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army,
and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion,
and all the peoples, fought against Jerusalem, and against all
the cities thereof, saying: 2 Thus saith the Lord, the God of
Israel, Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him,
Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will give this city into the hand
of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire : 3 and
thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken,
and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the
eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth
to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon. 4 Yet hear the word
of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah: thus saith the Lord
concerning thee. Thou shalt not die by the sword ; 5 thou shalt

XXXIV. 1. The form of this v. is very elaborate and resembles
the opening of an Assyrian inscription rather than a Hebrew prophecy ;
the simpler text preserved in lxx., which omits the kingdoms of and
and all the peoples, is probably original.

kingdoms. These would be the contingents sent from subject states
(cf. 2 K. xxiv. 2).

3. thine eyes &c. Cf. xxxii. 3 f. Zedekiah was in an unenviable
position, and the consciousness of his broken pledges (cf. Ez. xvii.) must
have weighed heavily on his mind. There is no mention here of the
putting out of Zedekiah's eyes, which leads Duhm to question the account
contained in lii. 11 and 2 K. xxvii. 7; Ez. xii. 13, however, seems con-
clusive on the point.

m.outh to mouth. Lit. his mouth shall speak with thy mouth.

4f. These vv. come rather strangely in a threatening prophecy,
Jeremiah would hardly be likely at this juncture to foretell smooth
things to Zedekiah; possibly some clause has fallen out which made
the promises conditional.

4. Yet. God reveals His plans gradually whether they be plans
of punishment or of reward.

XXXIV. 5-7] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 259

die in peace ; and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former
kings which were before thee, so shall they ^make a burning for
thee ; and they shall lament thee, saying, Ah lord ! for I have
spoken the word, saith the Lord. 6 Then Jeremiah the prophet
spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
7 when the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem,
and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish
and against Azekah ; for these alone remained of the cities of
Judah as fenced cities.

1 See 2 Chr. xvi. 14, xxi. 19.

5. the burnings of thy fathers. Cf. 2 Ch. xvi. 14, xxi. 19, and see
Joseph. De Bell. Jud. i. xxxiii. 19 (at the funeral of Herod). It has
been suggested that these burnings for the kings were a heathen
survival, Renan, Hist, du peuple d' Israel, in. p. 121; cf also Frazer,
Adonis, i. pp. 177 f.

7. Lachish... Azekah. Both these towns had been fortified by
Rehoboam (2 Ch. xi. 9). Lachish was some 35 miles SW. of Jerusalem
on the site of the modern Tell el-Hesy (see F. J. Bliss, A Mound of Many
Cities). It had been the headquarters of Sennacherib (Is. xxxvi. 2),
though the Assyrian monarch only captured the town with difficulty
and after very elaborate preparations (see Layard, Nineoeh and Babylon,
p. 149). The site of Azekah is unknown but it probably lay some
15 miles SW. of Jerusalem. Cf. Josh. xv. 35; 1 S. xvii. 1; Neh. xi.
30 (with Lachish).

Chapter XXXIV. 8—22.
The Release of the Slaves.

In the early part of the siege of Jerusalem the men of the city released their
Hebrew slaves, perhaps in accordance with the requirements of the law (see on
vv. 8 and 14), and as a bribe to Jehovah to gain His help against Babylon ;
perhaps also, as Duhm thinks, to provide more defenders for the city, for the
newly emancipated slaves would have more interest in keeping out the besiegers.
The former and religious motive was evidently the more prominent, the release
being guaranteed by a solemn covenant. In the eyes of the men of Jerusalem
their piety was speedily rewarded; for the Egyptians exhibited an unusual
measure of activity and advanced to the relief of the city. Their efforts were
successful and the Babylonians were compelled to abandon the siege. Ignoring
their solemn oath to God, ignoring the claims of brotherly love, or even of
common justice, the Hebrews immediately re-enslaved their brethren. The
prophet's condemnation followed swiftly on this unrighteous conduct. Just as
release had been given to the slaves, so would Jehovah give the men of Jerusalem

17—2

260 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxiv. s-n

release from His service, and, what followed as a consequence, from His protec-
tion. On the other hand just as they had made their slaves to return, so would
Jehovah make the besiegers to return upon the faithless city.

(a) The covenant of liberty. 8 — 11.

(6) Law and perjury. 12 — 16.

(c) The punishment of broken obligations. 17 — 22.

8 The word that came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, after
that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people
which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them ; 9 that
every man should let his manservant, and every man his maid-
servant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free ; that none
should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother: 10 and
all the princes and all the people obeyed, which had entered into
the covenant, that every one should let his manservant, and
every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve them-
selves of them any more ; they obeyed, and let them go : 11 but
afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the hand-
maids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them

8 — 11. Zedekiah and the people made a covenant to release all
native slaves of either sex. Cf. Neh. v. 8 — 12 for a similar action on
the part of Nehemiah.

8. had made a covenant. The release of the male slave at the end of
six years from the beginning of servitude is provided for in Ex. xxi. 2 (E)
and of the female in Dt. xv. 2. If this law had ever been accepted
before the days of Jeremiah, it had by his time fallen into neglect, and
instead of its provisions a covering measure compelling the release of
all slaves was agreed to by the people. The number of slaves must
have been very great as the frequent invasions had ruined the small
landowners, who were also oppressed by the greed of the great pro-
prietors (cf Am. ii. 7; Mic. ii. 2, 9; Is. v. 8, &c.) and in their poverty
reduced to servitude (see Introd. p. lix).

all... at Jerusalem. As the rest of the inhabitants of Judah were
cut off by the besiegers the covenant related to Jerusalem only.

libert'ii. Heb. "'^"''^.; deror, lit. flowing, and therefore fi'ee (cf. the
Babylonian durdru, and see S. A. Cook, Laws of 3Ioses, &c., pp. 159
note 1, 229 note 1). The word is used in a similar connexion in Lev.
XXV. 10; Ez. xlvi. 17; Is. Ixi. 1: it also gives her name to the swallow.

9. that none... his brother. So Lev. xxv. 39 — 46. lxx. reads so
that no one of Judah should any more be a slave.

11. afterivards they turned. 'A death-bed repentance, with the
usual sequel on recovery,' Peake. Cf. Dean Church, St Anselm, pp.
226 f.

XXXIV. ii-t8] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 261

into subjection for servants and for handmaids : 1 2 therefore the
word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 13 Thus
saith the Lord, the God of Israel : I made a covenant with your
fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of
Egypt, out of the house of ^bondage, saying, 14 At the end of
seven years ye shall let go every man his brother that is an
Hebrew, which ^hath been sold unto thee, and hath served thee
six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee : but your fathers
hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. 15 And ye
were now turned, and had done that which is right in mine eyes,
in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour ; and ye had
made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my
name: 16 but ye turned and profaned my name, and caused
every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye
had let go free at their pleasure, to return ; and ye brought them
into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.
17 Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ye have not hearkened unto
me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man
to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim unto you a liberty, saith
the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine ; and
I will make you to be ^tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms
of the earth. 18 And I will give the men that have transgressed
my covenant, which have not performed the words of the cove-
nant which they made before me, *when they cut the calf in

1 Heb. bondmen. ^ Or, hath sold himself

3 Or, a terror unto * Heb. the calf ichich they cut d'c.

12 — 16. The prophet tells the people that they have not only
broken the law, but also the special covenant which they had made
with God ; perjury has been added to treachery.

14. At the end of seven years, lxx. reads six which is the period
really contemplated ; the Hebrews in making a calculation of this kind
included both the first term and the last in their reckoning (cf. ' after
three days' Mk. viii. 31; contrast ix. 31, x. 34). According to the
Code of Hammurabi, § 117, if a man sold his wife or children for a debt
they were to be returned at the end of three years.

16. at tJieir pleasure. Lit. according to their soul; cf. xxii. 27.

17 — 22. The sentence is proclaimed. Because the people have
neglected to carry out the law of emancipation they are to be emanci-
pated from Jehovah's servic^ and protection. ' The punishment is to
be according to the jus talionis ' (Giesebrecht). Cf. Matt. vii. 2.

18. when they cut the calf in twain. Cf. Gen. xv. 9 — 11, 17 (with

262 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxiv. 18-22

twain and passed between the parts thereof; 19 the princes of
Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests,
and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts
of the calf; 9,0 I will even give them into the hand of their
enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and
their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven,
and to the beasts of the earth. 21 And Zedekiah king of Judah
and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and
into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of
the king of Babylon's army, which are gone up from you. 22 Be-
hold, I will command, saith the Lord, and cause them to return
to this city ; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn
it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation,
without inhabitant.

Driver's note). The animal was slain and its carcase divided up ; each
of the parties to the agreement then passed between them, invoking
a similar fate upon himself if he failed to keep his contract. Dr Bennett
{Expos. Bible, ad loc.) compares the case of the agreement made by the
leaders of the contending factions of the Macedonian army after the
death of Alexander, when the compromise was ratified by the contracting
parties going between the two halves of a dog (cf also Iliad, iii. 298).
The Chinese, even in the present day, take an oath by kneeling down
and smashing a saucer, saying meanwhile ' I shall tell the truth, the
whole truth. The saucer is broken and if I tell not the truth my soul
will be broken like the saucer.' See further McNeile, Exodus, p. 154
note 1. Robertson Smith, however, is not satisfied with the above *
explanation as it fails to account for ' the characteristic feature in the
ceremony — the passing between the pieces; and, on the other hand,
we see from Ex. xxiv. 8... that the dividing of the sacrifice and the
application of the blood to both parties go together. The sacrifice
presumably was divided into two parts, when both parties joined in
eating it : and when it ceased to be eaten, the parties stood between
the pieces as a symbol that they were taken within the mystical life of
the victim.' Rel Sem.^ p. 481 \

20. Cf vii. 33, xvi. 4.

21. Zedekiah. Contrast v. 5 where the judgement passed on
Zedekiah is comparatively favourable.

' For other instances of the rite in both ancient and modern times see J. G. Frazer,
The Magic Art, i. p. 289, and the authorities there quoted.

THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 263

Chapter XXXV.
The Incident of the Rechahites.

Towards the end of the reign of Jehoiakim {v. 1 ; see note however) Judah
was overrun by bands of Syrians and Chaldeans (2 K. xxiv. 2) who drove the
inhabitants of the open country and of the smaller towns to seek refuge in
Jerusalem. Amongst these fugitives was the family or clan of the Rechabites
who had hitherto avoided living in towns or even in houses, preserving the
simpler conditions of life as handed down to them by their forefathers.

According to 1 Ch. ii. 55 the Rechabites were a branch of the Kenites, a
tribe which had been associated with the Israelites from the earliest times, and
who had finally settled in the south of Judah (Jud. i. 16; 1 S. xv. 6)^. Their
avoidance of wine was not primarily a protest against di-unkenness and luxurj'^,
but was part of the general religious policy of 'their father' Jonadab, the son
of Rechab. This policy was probably based on the conception of Jehovah as the
God of a wilderness people, and those who supported it were upholders of the
' primitive severe and unimaginative ' religion of the Israelite nation against the
later eclecticism with its sanction of heathen rites ^. When the nomad Israelites
settled in Canaan they were bound to take up the cultivation of the soil in order
to support themselves and their families ; in doing so they would be dependent
on their Canaanite neighbours for instruction in the arts of agriculture, and
these arts would involve the learning of religious rites intended to propitiate
the Baalim who were responsible for the fertility of the ground. In adopting
such practices the Israelites had no intention of abandoning, or even of com-
promising, their allegiance to Jehovah as the supreme God of Israel, they looked
upon the local Baalim as so many demigods or guardian spirits. In course of
time, however, as the conception of Jehovah as the only God to be worshipped
by Israel became more general, the rites paid to these local deities, with all
their underlying superstitious, would be transfen-ed to Him. The policy of
Jonadab was a protest against the nation's having anything to do with agricultural
life, involving as it did the performance of these degi'ading rites, and this protest
was carried so far as to make his followers avoid wine, at any rate, amongst the
products of the soil. It should be remembered that Jeremiah had strong sym-
pathies with the nomadic life (ii. 2; cf. Hos. ii. 14 f.), and these sympathies were
no doubt intensified in the face of the growing luxury of the court (xxii. 14 f).

1 G. F. Moore thinks that the Kenites were a branch of the Amalekites and that
their connexion with the Rechabites is very doubtful ; Judges, p. 34 n.

"^ Canon Kennett in HD Rel. and E. vii. pp. 440f. says 'It is not improbable
that the Rechabites may be regarded as the representatives of the true Israelite as
distinct from the Canaanite element in Israel. Presumably before the conquest of
Canaan the Israelites lived mainly on milk, as do the Babima and the Todas in
modern times, though the eating of game may also have been allowed.' On the
other hand Eardmans does not look upon the Rechabites as good evidence for early
Israelite religion; he thinks that they were travelling 'smiths' who came in the
train of the Babylonians ; cf. their connexion with the Kenites ( = smiths). Expositor,
VII. vi. 126 ff.

264 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxv. .-5

The narrative of the encounter with the Rechabites bears on the face of it
the marks of genuineness, and accordingly few critics have ventured to question
it. Schmidt, however, rejects the account as he thinks that the very presence
of the Rechabites within the walls of Jerusalem was a breach of the command
of their ancestor. But there is no evidence of their living in houses during the
siege, doubtless the number of houses within the city walls would not in any
case have been sufficient to accommodate the mass of fugitives, and the events
of the later siege make it probable that the number of houses available was
reduced still further and that some of them were broken down to strengthen
the defences (xxxiii. 4). If the Rechabites dwelt in tents within the walls, and
there is no reason for doubting that they did so, they would not be the only
people who were thus housed. Schmidt also thinks that, even if the Rechabites
entered Jerusalem, it is unlikely that Jeremiah would have subjected them to
so questionable and pubhc a test as the one related here {Enc Bib. 2387).
This criticism like the last one is purely arbitrary and in view of the other
evidence in favour of the genuineness of the ch. of little valued

{a) The prophets invitation audits sequel. 1 — 11.

(5) The lesson from the incident. 12—19.

XXXV. 1 The word which came unto Jeremiah from the
Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah,
saying, 2 Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto
them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of
the chambers, and give them wine to drink. 3 Then I took

XXXV. 1 — 11. Jeremiah invites the Rechabites to drink wine
in one of the chambers of the temple ; they refuse to do so because of
their traditional avoidance of all customs inconsistent with the nomadic
Hfe.

1. the days of Jehoiakim. This chapter, with that which follows
it, returns to the reign of Jehoiakim, and so causes a break in the
account contained in chh. xxxii.— xliv. The correctness of the date
has been challenged on the ground that Nebuchadrezzar, from whose
approach the Rechabites had fled {v. 11), did not enter Judah till after
the days of Jehoiakim, 'cf. Buttenwieser, Prophets, p. 45. It is not
necessary to take the approach of Nebuchadrezzar to be in person, the
phrase would be quite well represented by the approach of his armies
(cf 2 K. xxiv. 2).

2. Go unto the house, i.e. the family or clan. Jeremiah is evi-
dently once more at liberty (cf. xxxvi. 19, 26).

the chambers. There seem to have been many rooms in the temple

1 la view of the suggestion made above that the Rechabites avoided wine from
religious motives it is interesting to remember that the Greeks regarded intoxication
as due to a divine influence dwelling in the grape, hence their worsh'p of Dionysus,
'the spirit of fire and dew, alive and leaping in a thousand vines' as Walter Pater
described him.

XXXV. 3-6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 265

Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his
brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites ;

4 and T brought them into the house of the Lord, into the cham-
ber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God,
which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the
chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the ^door:

5 and I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls
full of wine, and cups, and I said unto them. Drink ye wine.

6 But they said, We will drink no wine : for Jonadab the son of
Rechab our father commanded us, saying. Ye shall drink no

1 Heb. threshold.

courts and they were the scenes of several incidents in Jeremiah's
ministry (xxxvi. 12, 20 f.). Giesebrecht points out that it was evidently
possible for those outside to see and hear what was going on in the
chamber. In 1 S. ix. 22 the same Heb. word liskka is used of ' a ban-
queting hall for the communal sacrifice' and W. Robertson Smith
thinks that it is identical with the Greek Xiaxv (Eel. Sem.^ p. 254).

3. The names of the Rechabites as given in MT. all end in -iah;
Lxx. seems to have had a different text or else it deliberately omitted
the ending in the case of the two last names. It is possible that the
-iah was added by a later scribe in view off. 19.

4. Hanan. Nothing is known of Hanan except in this passage.
The phrase man of God is used in 1 S. ii. 27, ix. 6; 1 K. xiii. 1, &c. of
a prophet, and perhaps Hanan was himself a prophet; in which case
his sows were most probably his disciples (cf 2 K. ii. 3, &c.), hence
their sympathy with Jeremiali.

Maaseiah. Probably father of Zephaniah, xxi. 1, xxix. 25, &c.

keeper of the door. Better threshold. Three such officers are speci-
fied in Hi. 24 and they were men of great importance ranking after the
chief priest and second priest. Ps. Ixxxiv. 10 suggests that the door-
keeper (the same root is used) was a person of low rank ; the reference
however is probably not to an office at all but to an attitude, and the
line is best translated ' I had rather stand at the threshold of the house
of my God V

_ 5. hoivls. The same word is used of Joseph's divining cup (Gen.
xliv. 2, &c.), and of the bowls of the golden candlestick (Ex. xxv. 21, &c.).

6. Jonadab the son of Rechab. Jonadab is mentioned in 2 K. x.
15 — 27 as one of Jehu's sympathisers in the strong measures which
were taken by that monarch against the worshippers of the Tyrian
Baal. Cheyne, however, identifies him with Hobab the father-in-law
of Moses {Enc. Bib. 2101 f).

our father. This expression need not be taken literally (see

1 Cf. Frazer, Folk-Lore in O.T. in. pp. 1 ff.

266 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxv. 6-11

wine, neither ye, nor your sons, for ever : 7 neither shall ye build
house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any : but all
your days ye shall dwell in tents ; that ye may live many days
in the land wherein ye sojourn. 8 And we have obeyed the voice
of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he charged
us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, nor
our daughters ; 9 nor to build houses for us to dwell in : neither
have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed: 10 but we have dwelt in
tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab
our father commanded us. 1 1 But it came to pass, when Nebu-
chadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said.
Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the
Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians ; so we dwell
at Jerusalem.

on V. 4). The head or founder of any society or group amongst the
Arabs is still called its father (see W. Robertson Smith, Kinship, &c.

P- 15)- . ... ....

7. Prohibitions almost identical with those mentioned in this

v. were laid upon the Nabataeans, not in their case from religious
motives, but in order that their poverty might free them from fear of
the covetousness of powerful neighbours (Diod. Siculus xix. 94; for
other instances of a similar taboo see W. Robertson Smith, Rel. Sem.^
pp. 484 ff.). The Bedouin of the present day consider it an unworthy
thing to engage in agriculture or handicrafts, and this feeling may date
from similar ancestral prohibitions. The instinct which prompts nomads
to be suspicious of higher types of civilisation is a true one and in-
spired, consciously or unconsciously, by the desire for self-preservation
(cf R. A. Nicholson, Literary Hist, of the Arabs, pp. 439 ff.).
dwell in tents. Cf Gen. iv. 20.

8. Dean Stanley quotes a very striking parallel to tliis instance,
illustrating the way in which the Bedouin adhere to their traditions :
' We passed a cairn, said to be the grave of the horse of Abu Zenneh, his
horse killed in battle. Who Abft Zenneh was — when he lived — what
the battle was — is quite unknown, but he left an ordinance that every
Arab should throw sand on the cairn as if it were barley, and say,
' Eat, eat, 0 horse of Abii Zenneh,' as if the dead creature were still
alive. So said our Bedouin, and accordingly each Arab muttered the
words and pushed the sand twice or thrice with his foot as he passed.
I could not help thinking of the Rechabites, as described by Jeremiah.'
Sinai and Palr^ p. 54.

11. Syrians. Cf. xii. 7—17; 2 K. xxiv. 2. Noldeke thinks that
the great mass of the Chaldean army consisted of Arameans {Enc. Bib.
280) ; on the other hand Neclio's army at Carchemish had its contingent
of Phoenicians (see Miiller-Didot, Fragmenta Hist. Graecae, 11. p. 506).

XXXV. 12-17] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 267

12 Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying,

13 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go, and say
to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye
not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the Lord.

14 The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded
his sons, not to drink wine, are performed, and unto this day
they drink none, for they obey their father's commandment : but
I have spoken unto you, rising up early and speaking ; and ye
have not hearkened unto me. 15 I have sent also unto you all
my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them,
saying. Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend
your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye
shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your
fathers : but ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened unto
me. 16 Forasmuch as the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab
have performed the commandment of their father which he com-
manded them, but this people hath not hearkened unto me;
17 therefore thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of
Israel : Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabit-
ants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against
them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not

There is, however, nothing contradictory in the two statements, the
peoples of the ancient East had to provide troops for their overlord for
the time being without any regard for their own wishes or sentiments.

12 — 19. The fidehty of the Rechabites is to be rewarded. This
section unlike that which precedes it is in the third person (see vv. 1 2
and 18 but cf. LXX.) and consists mainly of strings of phrases apparently
borrowed from other passages of Jeremiah. Erbt thinks that vv. 16, 19
alone are genuine, and in any case, the substance of the passage is
contained in these vv. viz. : the fruit of obedience to parents is worldly
stability, a maxim which is well illustrated by the history of the
Chinese (cf. Ex. xx. 12; Eph. vi. 2f.).

14 f. In ii. 11 the Almighty tried to arouse in Israel a sense of
shame by the example of the faithfulness of the heathen to their objects
of worship ; here by the faithfulness of the Rechabites to mere human
commands. The harsh and stringent prohibitions which Jonadab had
laid on his followers were obeyed, but the requirements of Jehovah
were disregarded. The prophet holds up these men, who were non-
Israelites, as an example to the chosen people (cf. Matt, viii, 10 'I
have not found so great faith, no not in Israel ').

15. ' A summary in Jeremiah's phraseology of the teaching of the
former prophets.' Driver.

268 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxv. 17-19

heard ; and I have called unto them, but they have not answered. ■
18 And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Because ye have
obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all
his precepts, and done according unto all that he commanded
you; 19 therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of
Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to
stand before me for ever.

18. And Jeremiah said... Rechabites. Omit with lxx.

19. to stand before. The phrase is used of attendance on a king
(1 K. i. 2, X, 8, &c.), of Elijah and Elisha as ministers of Jehovah
(1 K. xvii. 1, &c.), and of Jeremiah himself (xv. 19). It is usually
employed as a description of the priests, and some scholars would so
interpret it here. There are various traces, it is true, of a connexion
between the Rechabites and the priesthood but these come from a later
time, and may he a consequence of this passage. See Neh. iii. 14, the
LXX. heading to Ps. Ixxi. vl(i>v 'loDvaSa^S, and Hegesippus' account of
the stoning of James the Just where he speaks of ' one of the priests
the sons of Rechab, a son of the Rechabites spoken of by Jeremiah the
prophet' (quoted by Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. 11. p. 23). For later theories
see The Jewish Quarterly Review, N.S. i. p. 253; Enc. Bib. 4019 if.

Chapter XXXVI.
Jeremiah's Roll and its Fate.

This ch. like the one previous to it comes from the reign of Jehoiakim,
though from a somewhat earher period. It contains an account of what is
perhaps the most striking and dramatic incident in the whole book. But the
action of Jehoiakim in destroying the roll, striking and dramatic though that
incident may be, does not by any means exhaust the interest and still more
the importance of the ch. ; on the contrary it would surely be no exaggeration
to say that the composition of the roll itself, from the light which it throws on
the origin of the book, outweighs in importance and even in interest the conduct
of the king.

The fourth year of Jehoiakim, in which the incident took place, synchronised
with one of the most momentous epochs in the history of Israel, and indeed of
the world — it was the year most probably of the battle of Carchemish, the battle
in which was decided the fate of Syria and the sovereignty of the known world.
It may be that it was the result of this conflict which impelled Jeremiah to
commit his prophecies to writing, emphasising as they did the coming of the
foe from the North ; it was a not unnatural temptation to him after all the years
of scoffing and mockery to point out to the people that the words which God

XXXVI. 1-3] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 269

had spoken by his mouth were not so impossible of fulfilment, and that part of
the prophecies having been brought to pass the remainder was surely worthy
of deep consideration. He was no longer the discredited herald of woes that
never came — the Babylonian triumph had vindicated his forecasts and shewn
him to be the true prophet of Jehovah (cf. p. 182).
The chapter may be analysed as follows :

(a) The dictation of the roll. 1 — 8.

(b) The first reading — to the people. 9f.

(c) The second reading — to the princes. 11 — 15.

(d) The princes' warning. 16 — 20.

{e) The third reading — to the king., icho destroys the roll. 21 — 26
(/) The roll re-written. 27—32.

XXXVI. 1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoi-
akim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came unto
Jeremiah fi'om the Lord, saying, 2 Take thee a roll of a book,
and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee
against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations,
from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even
unto this day. 3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear

XXXVI. 1 — 8. Jeremiah at the command of God dictates his
prophecies to Baruch ; and because he is not free to go into the temple
he instructs Baruch to read them to the people there assembled. It has
recently been suggested by Dr Buttenwieser {Prophets, pp. 133 £f.) that
the reason for Jeremiah's dictation of his prophecies was that he him-
self could not write. As so little is known of the extent to which
writing was practised amongst the ancient Hebrews there is no present
possibility either of proving or disproving this theory: for a discussion
of the question see J. Th. 8. xvi. pp. 135 i. Some difficulty has been felt
as to the exact manner in which Jeremiah reproduced his prophecies,
were they written down just as he had uttered them during a period of
twenty-three years? If so how did the prophet remember them, unless
he had indeed, as Stade suggests (ZATW. 1903, pp. 157 ff.), a repe-
tition of the original ecstasy? In reply it may be taken as almost
certain that the roll, which was only of moderate dimensions — it was
read three times in one day — contained merely the bare outline and
substance of Jeremiah's constantly repeated message. At the same
time he may have preserved written copies of some of his discourses
or they may have been retained in the minds of the hearers. Many of
the passages which are contained in the eai'lier chh. of the canonical
book shew traces of the time in which they claim to have been delivered.

2, Israel, lxx. reading Jerusalem is much to be preferred.

3. Cf V. 7, xxvi. 3.

270 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxvi. 3-7

all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may
return every man from his evil way ; that I may forgive their
iniquity and their sin. 4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son
of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all
the words of the Lord, which he had spoken unto him, upon a
roll of a book. 5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I
am ^shut up ; I cannot go into the house of the Lord : 6 there-
fore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from
my mouth, the words of the Lord in the ears of the people in
the Lord's house upon ^the fast day: and also thou shalt read
them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. 7 It
may be ^they will present their supplication before the Lord,
and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the
anger and the fury that the Lord hath pronounced against this

1 Or, restrained ^ Or, a fast day ^ Heb. their supplication vnll fall.

4. Baruch. See on xxxii. 12 f.

mouth of Jeremiah. The prophet dictated to his scribe possibly
reading from earlier documents (see above).

5. shut up. The exact meaning of the phrase in this connexion
has greatly puzzled commentators; the fact is obvious, Jeremiah, for
some reason or other, was not allowed to enter the temple and address
the people, possibly he had been 'inhibited' from preaching there after
the incidents related in xxvi. (cf. Giesebrecht). Other critics suggest
that he was ceremonially unclean; but it is not certain that such un-
cleanness would have prevented his having access to the outer courts
of the temple. In a similar case Doeg the Edomite saw and heard all
that went on in the sanctuary at Nob (1 S. xxi. 8), though it is perhaps
somewhat hazardous to cite customs Irom this simpler tabernacle as a
precedent for the temple itself (cf Preuschen,^'^ J'fF. 1903, pp. 141 ff.).
A more effective argument against the suggestion of ceremonial un-
cleanness is to be found in the fact that Jeremiah's inability to enter
the temple area lasted for a longer period than would be explained
on such grounds. On the other hand it is hardly likely that we are
intended to understand that the prophet was in prison at the time —
though the same expression is used with this connotation in xxxiii. 1,
xxxix. 15 — for in this case he would not have had sufficient liberty of
action to carry out the advice of the princes to hide himself (vv. 19
and 26). Buttenwieser (pp. cit. pp. 40 f ) thinks that Jeremiah was
prevented from entering the temple or appearing openly because he
was under sentence of death (see note on xxvi. 16).

6. fast day. The prophets habitually took advantage of large
gatherings of the people to deliver their message ; see xxvi. 2; Is. xxviii.
7 f., xxix. 1—14 (but cf v. 11).

XXXVI. 7-1 x] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 271

people. 8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all
that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book
the words of the Lord in the Lord's house.

9 Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son
of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people
in Jerusalem, and all the people that came from the cities of
Judah unto Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before the Lord.
10 Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in
the house of the Lord, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of
Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new
gate of the Lord's house, in the ears of all the people. 11 And
when Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had

8. This V. is merely a summary of what follows.

9 f. Baruch reads the roll in the ears of the people.

9. fifth year... ninth month. There was evidently some little delay
between the composition of the roll and its publication. This delay
cannot be accounted for by supposing that it was occupied in copying
out the roll, its size was too small for any such a length of time to be
required. As the ninth month occurs in winter time (cf v. 22) the
writer of the account is evidently using the Babylonian system of
reckoning; by this system the year is considered to begin in April.
The usage is not necessarily a sign of late date as it is found in Ezekiel.

a fast. Before the exile fasting was a private custom, after the
return regular days were appointed (cf Zech. vii. 3 ff., viii. 19; Lev.
xvi. 29, xxiii. 27; and see Wade, Isaiah, pp. 368 f). This special fast
may have been proclaimed because of the threatening approach of the
Chaldeans.

10. Duhm thinks that this exact and detailed account, in spite of
its being written in the third person, can come from none other than
Baruch himself.

in the chamber. Baruch evidently despaired of attempting to gain
the attention of all the people, they would be intent on the numerous
sacrifices which were doubtless offered up on the occasion of the fast.

Gemariah the son of Shaphan. Probably Shaphan is to be identified
with Josiah's officer (2 K. xxii. 3). Gemariah, who must not be con-
fused with the son of Hilkiah mentioned in xxix. 3, was most probably
the brother of Ahikam, Jeremiah's protector (xxvi. 24) and the uncle
of Gedaliah (xxxix. 14). Another son of Shaphan seems to have been
a leader of the reactionary party (Ez. viii. 11), though it is by no
means certain that Jaazaniah is the brother of Gemariah. The owner
of the chamber was himself away at the time, being with the other
princes in the palace {v. 12), but his son Micaiah was present {v. 11).

11 — 15. Micaiah reports the contents of the roll to the princes,
and Baruch at their request reads the roll before them. Micaiah's

272 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxvi. 11-15

heard out of the book all the words of the Lord, 12 he went
down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber : and, lo,
all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah
the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and
Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah,
and all the princes. 13 Then Micaiah declared unto them all
the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the
ears of the people. 14 Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the
son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto
Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast
read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of
Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them. 15 And
they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So

action may have been inspired by unfriendly motives, he may have felt
that the contents of the roll ought to be reported to the authorities;
his relationship to Gemariah, however, makes it probable that he was
friendly to the prophet, and it was natural that he should give some
kind of report to his father of the use made of the chamber.

12, Elishama. The name also occurs in Nu. i. 10; 2 S. v. 16.

14. Jehudi... Cushi. Cushi is the ordinary Heb. word for an Ethio-
pian and it is hard to decide in most of the cases where it is used,
whether a proper name or a gentilic is meant. In the ancestry of the
prophet Zephaniah (i. 1) the word is certainly used of an individual,
and in an inscription from Ipsambul it is also used with a personal
reference {CIS. 112). Duhm thinks that a name of this kind might
be given to a child in remembrance of some incident connected with its
birth, for example Cushi might have been born during a visit to Ethiopia
on the part of one or both parents ; this suggestion recalls the case of
St Francis of Assisi who was brought into the world whilst his father
was absent in France and baptised Giovanni, but on his parent's return
received the name of Francesco. The name Cushi is here probably one
of the ancestors of Jehudi though it is only usual for the ancestry of
really important people to be traced back beyond the father, and Jehudi
seems to have been only some kind of subordinate official. In con-
sequence of this custom Cornill and other scholars would divide up
the names into two groups reading Jehudi the son of Nethaniah and
Shelemiah the son of Cushi.

15. Sit down. The princes behave in a courteous manner towards
Baruch, perhaps because he was of high social rank, or they may have
recognised his right to adopt the proj^er attitude of an Oriental teacher
(cf Lk. iv. 20). On the whole they appear to have been friendly;
notice the warning in v. 19, and their leaving the roll behind them
when they reported its contents to the king. When in Jehoiakim's

xxxvi. 15-22] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 273

Baruch read it in their ears. 16 Now it came to pass, when they
had heard all the words, they turned in fear one toward another,
and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these
words. 17 And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How
didst thou write all these words at his mouth? 18 Then Baruch
answered them. He pronounced all these words unto me with
his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book. 19 Then
said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah ;
and let no man know where ye be. 20 And they went in to the
king into the court ; but they had laid up the roll in the chamber
of Elishama the scribe ; and they told all the words in the ears
of the king. 21 So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll : and
he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi
read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes
which stood beside the king. 22 Now the king sat in the winter

presence, however, their better instincts seem to have been stifled by
their fears.

16 — 20. The princes make close enquiries as to the origin of the
roll and then advise Baruch to join Jeremiah in his hiding-place.

16. unto Baruch. lxx. rightly omits.

17. The princes are anxious to know all the facts of the case before
reporting it to the king; they knew that Jeremiah was the person
ultimately responsible for the prophecy, but evidently wished to dis-
cover whether he had composed the actual words.

at his mouth. Ewald follows lxx. and omits this expression.

18. ink. This is the only place where ink is mentioned in OT. ;
of 2 Jn. 12'. For the use of ink amongst the ancient Jews see
W. Robertson Smith's note in 0. T. in Jew. Church"', p. 71.

19. Go, hide thee. It has been suggested that the hiding-place of
the prophet and his companion was 'the Grotto of Jeremiah' outside
the Damascus Gate (see PEFQS. 1912, p. 27).

20. they had laid up the roll. Perhaps they did not want the king
to learn the actual words of the prophecy, but wished to preserve peace
by giving him a general idea of its contents in a somewhat milder
form.

21 — 26. Jehoiakim insists upon hearing the contents of the roll;
and on his command being carried out he cuts the roll to pieces and
burns it in the grate.

22. winter house. This was not as a rule a separate building but a
part of the house used in the cold season, the interior or possibly the
lower storey (see Harper on Am. iii, 15 ; and G. F. Moore on Jud. iii. 20).

^ LXX. omits, possibly because the translators were ignorant of the meaning of
the word.

B. 18

274 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxvi. 22-26

house in the ninth month : and there was a fire in the brasier
burning before him. 23 And it came to pass, when Jehudi had
read three or four ^leaves, that the king cut it with the penknife,
and cast it into the fire that was in the brasier, until all the roll
was consumed in the fire that was in the brasier. 24 And they
were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor
any of his servants that heard all these words. 25 Moreover
Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to
the king that he would not burn the roll : but he would not hear
them. 26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel ^the king's son,

1 Or, colum7is ^ Or, the son of Hammelech

f

ninth month. The ninth month was one of piercing cold and wet
(cf. Ezra x. 9).

the brasier. The Heb. text is incomplete, as the words supplied in
italics shew. Brasiers of charcoal were placed in the houses of the
wealthy, and the fire here was doubtless very like the one mentioned in
Jn. xviii. 18, in connexion with St Peter's denial of our Lord. The tem-
perature of Jerusalem varied very greatly, and owing to its height the
nights were extremely cold.

23. when... read. Driver has suggested that in order to give full
force to the imperfect of the original the translation should read as
often as Jehudi read three or four columns, he cut them. This trans-
lation agrees with the statement that all the roll was consumed and
also with the use of the knife. The action of the king exhibits the
climax of rebellion against God, his cool contempt in destroying the
prophecy, portion by portion, is more horrible than would have been
a burst of fierce anger ending in his throwing the whole roll on the
brasier.

leaves. The mg. columns is better ; the word literally means doors
and Cornill compares the similar use of the Arabic hob.

penknife. Lit. knife of a scribe; it was used for making and mending
the pen and perhaps also for erasures.

24. Cf V. 16 and 2 K. xxii. 11. The latter passage is probably in
the mind of the writer, as suggesting a contrast.

25. Elnathan... not burn the roll. According to the present text
some of the princes overcame their lack of courage and endeavoured to
bring the king to a better mind, lxx., however, omits the nat and
states that these princes urged the king to burn the roll, the words fol-
lowing he would not hear them are also omitted. This reading fits in
better with -y. 24 and is perhaps the original. For Elnathan's attitude
on a previous occasion see xxvi. 22.

26. the king's so7i. i.e. a prince of the royal house. As Jehoiakim
was only some thirty years old .nt the time Jerahmeel would scarcely
be his offspring; moreover the natural way of representing the idea in

XXXVI. .6-3i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 275

and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel,
to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet : but the
Lord hid them.

27 Then the word of the, Lord came to Jeremiah, after that
the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote
at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, 28 Take thee again another
roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first
roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned. 29 And
concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah thou shalt say, Thus saith
the Lord: Thou hast burned this roll, saying. Why hast thou
written therein, saying. The king of Babylon shall certainly come
and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and
beast? 30 Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim
king of Judah : He shall have none to sit upon the throne of
David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the
heat, and in the night to the frost. 31 And I will punish him

Heb. would be simply to write his son. The mg. Hammelech is merely
a transliteration of the Heb.

27 — 32. The prophet by God's command accepts the challenge im-
plied in the burning of the roll, and re-writes it with the addition of
fresh matter, including the announcement of the fate of the king and
the destruction of the dynasty. Dean Stanley characteristically remarks
that 'In this record... is contained the germ of the "Liberty of unlicensed
Printing," the inexhaustible vitality of the written word^' Some critics
see traces in this passage of later additions; and objection has been
raised against the non-fulfilment, at any rate in the letter, of the
prophecy in v. 30. But the fact that the forecast was not literally
fulfilled is evidence in favour of the genuineness of the prophecy; a
manufactured prophecy, we may be quite sure, would fit all the details
of the actual event in the most exact manner.

30. He shall have none. The same threat has already been found
in xxii. 19. Jehoiakim was in actual fact succeeded by his son Jehoiachin
to whom the threat was also made (xxii. 30).

heat... frost. Cf. Gen. xxxi. 40 where Jacob says 'in the day the
drought consumed me and the frost by night.' The climate of Palestine
is noted for its great changes of temperature (see G. A. Smith, Hist.
Geog. pp. 69 ff.). Dean Stanley quotes the Jewish legend that 'on
the skin of the dead corpse, as it thus lay exposed, there appeared in
distinct Hebrew characters the name of the demon Codonazer, to whom
he had sold himself".'

^ The Jewish Church, ii. p. 456. ^ Op. cit. ii. p. 457.

18—2

276 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxvi. 31-xxxvii. i

and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring
upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the
men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them,
but they hearkened not. 32 Then took Jeremiah another roll,
and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah ; who wrote
therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book
which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire : and there
were added besides unto them many like words.

32. there were added &c. God's punishments grow more severe
as His warnings are neglected and His messengers despised. Dr Lock
points out to me the resemblance in teaching between this incident
and the legend of the Sibylline Books. In the classical story the books
are burnt by the Sibyl herself because their value is not recognised
by Tarquin who in the end has to pay for the three remaining volumes
the same price as for the original nine; the message of the Deity being
despised the terms became more severe.

Chapters XXXVH.— XXXVHI. 28 a.

Warnings and Persecutions.

These chh. are made up of a collection of various incidents in which Jeremiah
took part during the second siege of Jerusalem (588 — 586 B.C.). They are a
record of the advice which the prophet continually gave to the people and their
leaders, and of the suffering which he had to undergo in consequence of his
faithfulness and courage. The section may be divided as follows :

(a) The Chaldeans shall returyi. 1 — 10.

(&) Jeremiah is arrested as a deserter and imprisoned. 11 — 15.

(c) Zedekiah sends to consult him and regards his plea for better treat-

m,ent. 16 — 21.

{d) Jeremiah is cast into a dungeon, xxxviii. 1 — 6.

{e) The kindness of Ehed-melech the Ethiopian. 7 — 13.

{f) Jeremiah appeals to the king to surrender. 14 — 18.

{g) The king's fears and the propliet's warnings. 19 — 23.

{h) ZedekiaKs request for secrecy. 24 — 28a.

XXXVII. 1 And Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as

XXXVII. 1 — 10. After an introduction {vv. 1 — 2) an account is
given of Jeremiah's warning that although the Chaldeans had retired
from the city, yet they would surely return and not leave it until they
had captured and burnt it. There is a somewhat similar narrative in
xxi. and for the relation between the two incidents see the introduction

XXXVII. i-s] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 277

king, instead of ^Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchad-
rezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. 2 But
neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of tlie land, did hearken
unto the words of the Lord, which he spake by the prophet
Jeremiah.

3 And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah,
and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, to the prophet
Jeremiah, saying. Pray now unto the Lord our God for us.
4 Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people : for
they had not put him into prison. 5 And Pharaoh's army was

1 See ch. xxii. 24.

to thatch. Cornill suggests, in SBOT., that this section should be
combined with xxxiv. as follows: xxxiv. 1 — 7, xxxvii. 5, 3, 6 — 10,
xxxiv. 8 — 22.

1 f. These vv. seem rather strange introducing as they do the
accession of Zedekiah as if he had not been mentioned before. There
are two explanations either of which may account for their presence :
that (a) they are an editorial addition to mark the return from the
reign of Jehoiakim to that of Zedekiah, or else (b) chh. xxxvii. —
xxxviii. were circulated independently and the heading is original.

1. Coniah. See on xxii. 24.

2. people of the land. A common post-exilic phrase, used also in
Ez. vii. 27, xii. 19, &c.

3. Jehucal. In xxxviii. 1 — 6 a certain Jucal, son of Shelemiah, is
given as one of the princes who tried to have Jeremiah put to death:
Jehucal and Jucal are probably the same person.

Zephaniah. See on xxi. 1, xxix. 25.

Pray now &c. This action on the part of Zedekiah is hard to
explain. According to xxxiv. II the princes and the people were so
certain that the danger was permanently averted that they immediately
broke their covenant with the slaves and took them once more into
bondage. It seems strange therefore that a deputation should be sent
to Jeremiah asking for his prayers at this particular moment. Cornill
suggests that the king was not acting in good faith but merely wished
to taunt the prophet on the failure of his forecasts; such an act seems
hardly consistent with what is reported of Zedekiah in other passages,
and the suggestion can hardly be accepted. On the other hand it must
not be forgotten that Zedekiah was undoubtedly influenced by Jere-
miah, and evidently recognised that the situation was as critical as
ever, and that the insight into the future which the prophet had shewn
himself to possess might be extremely useful in facing the problems
which were bound to arise. It is necessary to make a distinction be-
tween the people with their impulsive and unthinking optimism and
the somewhat superstitious and timid monarch.

5. Pharax)lbS army. Hophra was the name of this Egyptian monarch

278 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxvii. s-i^

come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged
Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they brake up from Jerusalem.
6 Then came the word of the Lord unto the prophet Jeremiah,
saying, 7 Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel : Thus shall ye
say to the king of Judali, that sent you unto me to inquire of me;
Behold, Pharaoh's army, which is come forth to help you, shall
return to Egypt into their own land. 8 And the Chaldeans shall
come again, and fight against this city ; and they shall take it,
and burn it with fire. 9 Thus saith the Lord: Deceive not
^yourselves, saying. The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us:
for they shall not depart. 10 For though ye had smitten the
whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there
remained but ^wounded men among them, yet should they rise
up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.

1 1 And it came to pass that when the army of the Chaldeans
was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,
12 then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land
of Benjamin, to receive his portion ^ there, in the midst of the

^ Heb. your souls. ^ Heb. thrust through. ^ Heb. from thence.

and he probably reigned from 588 — 569 B.C. ; by Herodotus and Diodorus
he is called, rather less accurately, Apries. See further on xliv. 30.

7. The reasons for the retreat of the Egyptian army are not known,
perhaps disaffection broke out amongst them or possibly an unsuccessful
action was fought (cf. Ez. xxx. 21).

9 f. The exaggerated language of these vv. is no argument against
their genuineness.

10. wounded. Mg. thrust through ; the reference is not to slightly
wounded men, but. to those who had been stabbed again and again
(cf Abimelech, Jud. ix. 54); the same word is used in li. 4 in paral-
lelism with 'slain.'

An interesting parallel to this prophecy is to be found in the history
of the Indian Mutiny. At a time when the British power seemed broken
a native prince sent to his astrologer to enquire as to what would finally
be the issue of the mutiny, and he received the startling reply 'If all
the Europeans save one are slain, that one will remain and fight and
reconquer.'

11 — 15. Jeremiah on attempting to go down to his native village
is arrested as a deserter and placed in prison.

12. to receive his 'portion. The meaning of Heb. is not quite clear.
Driver paraphrases to receive an inheritance; possibly the prophet's
journey had something to do with the subsequent sale to him of the
family property (xxxii. 6 fif.).

XXXVII. 12-17] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 279

people. 13 And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain
of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of She-
lemiah, the son of Hananiah ; and he laid hold on Jeremiah the
prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans. 14 Then
said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans;
but he hearkened not to him: so Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah,
and brought him to the princes. 15 And the princes were wroth
with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house
of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.
16 When Jeremiah was come into the ^dungeon house, and into
the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days ; 17 then
Zedekiah the king sent, and fetched him : and the king asked

1 Or, house of the pit

13. gate of Benjamin. On the uorth of the city; see xxxviii. 7
and Zech. xiv. 10.

Irijah... Hananiak. Nothing further is known of Irijah nor does
the name occur elsewhere. Hananiah is almost certainly not the false
prophet of xxviii. 1 ff. who must have been a younger man.

Thou fallest away. As the prophet advised others to seek safety
with the Babylonians (xxi. 9), and as many had done so (xxxviii. 19),
it was the natural thing for Irijah to conclude that Jeremiah was
deserting.

15. the princes were wroth. These princes behaved in a much more
violent and unjust manner than their predecessors under Jehoiakim,
and no doubt helped to confirm Jeremiah's opinion as to the respective
merits of the exiles and the people who remained (xxi v.). It is very
probable that the real reason for the imprisonment and ill-treatment of
the prophet was his interfering on behalf of the re-enslaved serfs (xxxiv.);
and that the accusation of falling away to the enemy was trumped up
for the occasion, more especially as it was a charge which could be sup-
ported from his own utterances.

16 — 21. Zedekiah sends for Jeremiah desiring to receive from him
a message of hope; the prophet can give him no comfort, but makes
an appeal on his own behalf for milder treatment, this appeal the king
allows. The incident dealt with in this section in spite of the few words
in which it is narrated is exceedingly vivid, the anxiety of the king, on
the one hand, and the fearlessness of the prophet, on the other, are
brought out with striking force.

16. dungeon house. The mg. gives the literal translation of the
original house of the pit; d. xxxviii. 6; Ex. xii. 29; some kind of sub-
terranean prison is meant.

17. Zedekiah, like Saul, felt the need for some word from the Lord
and his own inability to oljtain it (cf 1 S. xxviii. 6). He seems also

280 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxvii. 17-21

him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the
Lord? And Jeremiah said, There is. He said also, Thou shalt be
delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. 18 Moreover
Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, Wherein have I sinned against
thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have
put me in prison? 19 Where now are your prophets which
prophesied unto you, saying. The king of Babylon shall not come
against you, nor against this land? 20 And now hear, I pray
thee, 0 my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, ^be
accepted before thee ; that thou cause me not to return to the
house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there, 21 Then Zedekiah
the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the
court of the guard, and they gave him daily a loaf of bread out

1 Ueh.fall.

to have nourished the vain hope that God's purposes might have
changed since the last message from the prophet, and that conditions
might be easier ; the return of the besiegers had evidently thrown him
into a state of desperate panic.

secretly. Perhaps the king thought that in a private interview he
might obtain a more favourable message than in a public utterance.
At the same time he was afraid of the scorn and rebukes of the princes
(cf xxxviii. 5, 24 ff.).

He said also. Omit with lxx. The prophet did not keep the king
in suspense, but his answer flashed back like a sword- thrust.

18. Jeremiah, in spite of his inability to gratify the king, now
makes an appeal on his own behalf It is rather remarkable that the
prophet is able to make this appeal which the king could grant only at
some risk to himself, and that he should place so much reliance on
honourable treatment by Zedekiah. The reproof must have fallen
heavily on the king, extinguishing as it did his last hopes of pre-
serving his independence, and it is hard to withhold a certain amount
of pity from him and his feeble efforts to do what was right.

19. Where now are. The siege has been renewed and the vain
forecasts of the false prophets have been proved to be vain.

21. court of the guard. See on xxxii. 2.

loaf of bread. The staple food of the Hebrews, as of Western
nations, was bread {ihe same Heb. word is used for bread and for food)
and both OT. and NT. contain many references to its manufacture both
in the household and, as in this v., by tradesmen. The loaf here men-
tioned is 'a small round cake or bannock' and it would form but a
scanty ration for a grown man; food was evidently getting scarce in
the besieged city (cf. lii. 6).

xxxvii. 21-xxxviii. 5] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 281

of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was spent.
Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

XXXVIII. 1 And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and
Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah,
and Pashhur the son of Malchijah, heard the words that Jeremiah
spake unto all the people, saying, 2 Thus saith the Lord, He that
abideth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by
the pestilence : but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall
live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey, and he shall live.

3 Thus saith the Lord, This city shall surely be given into the
hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.

4 Then the princes said unto the king. Let tliis man, we pray
thee, be put to death ; forasmuch as he weakeneth the hands of
the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the
people, in speaking such words unto them : for this man seeketh
not the welfare of this people, but the hurt. 5 And Zedekiah
the king said, Behold, he is in your hand : for the king is not

the haJcers' street. In the East each trade has its own street or
quarter. Baking was a special trade in the cities (cf. Hos. vii. 4, 6;
Joseph, Ant. xv. ix. 2).

XXXVIII. 1 — 6. The prophet is cast into an underground dungeon
by the command of the princes who accuse him of weakening the hands
of the defenders of the city. If this section is in its right order Jeremiah
did not long enjoy the comparative freedom granted to him by the king;
ij. 21 of the previous chapter seems to suggest that the dole of bread to
Jeremiah continued till the end of the siege and that the prophet re-
mained in the court of the guard.

1. Shephatiah. Not mentioned elsewhere.

Gedaliah the son of Pashhur. This prince may have been the son of
Jeremiah's old enemy (cf xx. 1 — 3).

Jucal. The same as Jehucal in xxxvii. 3.

Pashhur. See on xxi. 1.

all the people. This statement suggests that the prophet is at liberty.

2. This V. is almost identical with xxi. 9 and many critics think
that it is derived ^aa thence.

4. The attitude of Jeremiah during the siege must have been, to
say the least of it, a great trial to those responsible for the defence, and
his only justification was the consciousness that he was not expressing
his own private opinion but what he felt to be the revealed will of God.

tha,t remain. The ranks of the defenders had been thinned by death
and disease as well as by desertions (cf v. 19).

5. the king &c. Zedekiah was powerless in face of the predomi-

282 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxviii. 5-8

he that can do any thing against you. 6 Then took they Jeremiah,
and cast him into the ^dungeon of Malchijah ^the king's son, that
was in the court of the guard : and they let down Jeremiah with
cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire : and
Jeremiah sank in the mire. 7 Now when Ebed-melech the
Ethiopian, an eunuch, which was in the king's house, heard that
they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon ; the king then sitting in
the gate of Benjamin ; 8 Ebed-melech went forth out of the king's

1 Or, pit 2 Or, the son of Hammelech

naut war party, and handed over the prophet to them without a struggle.
The text of lxx. is perhaps better which reads for the king was not
able. ..them. DrPeake remarks that Zedekiah gave no permission to inflict
the death penalty; but surely the power of the princes was so great as
to make such permission unnecessary, and Jeremiah owed his escape
from instant execution more to his reputation as a prophet whose fore-
casts had been confirmed by actual events than to any half-hearted
attempts at protection on the part of the king.

6. the dungeon of Malchijah. The place into which the unfortunate
prophet was cast was probably a pit or cistern (see mg.) for storing
water such as was usually to be found in an Eastern house. The in-
tention of the princes was evidently that Jeremiah should die there
either from starvation or from suffocation as the depth of mud at the
bottom of the pit was considerable (cf v. 10).

7 — 13. Jeremiah is rescued from the persecutions of his own
countrymen by Ebed-Melech an Ethiopian eunuch, who with the king's
permission has the prophet drawn out of the pit.

7. Ebed-melech. This man was an eunuch and his presence in the
court was a sign of the spread in Judah of that degraded and luxurious
civilisation which was in part responsible for the downfall of the nation.
Cheyne, however, thinks that the Heb. word saris may also be used of
a court officer or a captain (see Enc. Bib. 1427), so also Jensen {Zeit.
Assyr. vii. 174) who connects it with the Assyrian sa-resi-he who is
head. It is probable that Ebed-melech was in charge of the women's
quarters and that he was actually an eunuch. For a note on Ethiopia
see on xiii. 23, and for the prophet's gratitude to his deliverer see
xxxix. 15fif.\

gate of Benjamin. To the north of the city and therefore a point
of importance and danger.

^ Cheyne {Life and Times, p. 174) looks upon Ebed-melech as a title; 'His true
name we know not; he passed among the Jews as "King's slave" — Ebedmelech.'

\?D *13r, however, is almost certainly a proper name (so lxx. 'A^de/x^Xex) as the

ofiSce would require the definite article "|T'Dn H^^ (cf. 2 K. xxii. 12, where the office
is evidently a high one; see Stade, Gesch. Isr. i. p. 650).

XXXVIII. 8-14] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 283

house, and spake to the king, saying, 9 My lord the king, these
men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the
prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and ^he is like
to die in the place where he is because of the famine : for there is
no more bread in the city. 10 Then the king commanded Ebed-
melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with
thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon,
before he die. 11 So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and
went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took
thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by
cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. 12 And Ebed-melech the
Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and
rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah
did so. 13 So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took
him up out of the dungeon : and Jeremiah remained in the court
of the guard.

14 Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the

1 Heb. he is dead.

9. because of the /amine. Whilst it is quite true that Jeremiah
from his position would be liable to miss his share of the rations yet
the explanation offered in this clause is not sufficient to account for
the great haste which seemed to be necessary in order to save the
prophet's life. The obvious reason was that as the prophet became
weaker he would gradually sink in the mire and be smothered.

10. thirty. Ewald long ago suggested that the number should be
three, which would be quite sufficient for the task, and indeed probably
as many as could be reasonably spared for it. Tlie MT. as it stands is
irregular as according to Heb. usage nouns following ' tens ' should be
in the singular.

12. Put now these &c. LXX. omits old cast clouts... armholes, and
Duhm prefers its reading to that of MT.

14 — 28 a. This section as a whole has been accepted as genuine
by practically all critics, mainly on account of the minute and exact
knowledge which is exhibited in it. Peake says, for example, that it
is ' unquestionably trustworthy. Its information is too precise to come
from any but a first-hand source.' It is quite true that exact details
are given of the conversation between the king and Jeremiah and of
the place where the interview took place; but there are no means left
to scholars by which the details concerning the latter can be either
confirmed or denied (see on v. 14), and the report of what happened at
a secret meeting naturally enough admits of no verification, it can only
be judged by the test of what was probable and what was not. On the

284 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxviii. h

whole the report of the intercourse between the prophet and Zedekiah
is not convincing. The following reasons against its genuineness have
been advanced by Dr Buttenwieser {op. cit. pp. 55 ff.): — {a) The ac-
count is based on the similar secret interview contained in xxxvii.
17 — 21. This interview followed Jeremiah's imprisonment in the
dungeon of Jonathan and the prophet during his conversation with
the king begged not to be sent back to the dungeon (xxxvii. 20) which
was quite natural under the circumstances. In xxxviii. 26 Zedekiah
tells the prophet to account for his interview — that is an interview
which purports to have occurred after the rescue from the cistern — by
saying that he had made this very petition to the king. In the con-
versation recorded in xxxviii. 14 ff. there is no trace of such a request.
It is possible that the writer of the account confused the two imprison-
ments, though, at the same time, as the statement suggested to the
prophet by Zedekiah was only an excuse there is no reason why it
should have been a true one (on this point see on v. 27). (6) The
second objection lies against the manner in which Jeremiah is depicted.
He will not reveal his message to the king until he has demanded an
oath from him safeguarding his life ; the king is afraid that he will not
reveal the whole truth {vv. 14 ff.). Now it may be admitted that
Jeremiah was naturally of a timid disposition, and that his terrible
experiences may have undermined his courage, but Zedekiah must
have known him sufficiently well to be fully aware that no fears for
himself would make the prophet keep back a word of his message, and
it is almost impossible to imagine that one whose faith in God was so
great as that of Jeremiah needed the oath of a feeble sovereign like
Zedekiah before he would declare his message; the narrative itself
shews what value was to be attached to the king's protection (cf vv.
24 if.), (c) Although the interview is said to have been a secret one it
is known to the princes immediately (as the king himself seemed to
anticipate), and they are full of curiosity to know what has taken
place. Such curiosity on the part of the princes is most unlikely as
they regarded the prophet with a contempt which was perhaps even
greater than their contempt for the king himself (d) Dr Buttenwieser
also condemns the description of the conduct of the harem on the
occasion of the fall of the city which is put into the mouth of Jeremiah
{vv. 22 f.). 'Is it credible,' he asks, 'that Jeremiah, whose sensitive
soul suffered agonies at every thought of his people's doom, could have
conceived such an unnatural and revolting scene as is this picture of
the women of the King's harem coming forth to jeer at the degradation
of their lord.... A picture so psychologically untrue could not have
suggested itself to Jeremiah. He would have known instinctively that
in that hour of misery and despair those women, however frivolous,
would not be in the mood for derision. Had he chosen to harrow the
mind of the King with a picture of his women on that day, he would
most certainly have painted the grim reality, as Amos in his prophecy
to Amaziah — "Thy wife will be ravished in the city.'" {e) Finally
the advice to Zedekiah to surrender is suspicious and is not found in

XXXVIII. I4-I8] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 285

prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the
Lord : and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing ;
hide nothing from me. 15 Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah,
If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death?
and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto me. 16 So
Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying. As the
Lord liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death,
neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy
life. 17 Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the Lord,
the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If thou wilt go forth unto
the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live, and this
city shall not be burned with fire ; and thou shalt live, and thine
house : 18 but if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's
princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans,

the earlier account : it is almost certain also that the king was quite
without the necessary power of adopting such a policy, and that any
attempt on his part to do so would have led to his dethronement at
the hands of the princes. His supposed excuse is too feeble even for
the lips of Zedekiah. He must have known that had he surrendered,
his fears for his dignity would not have been on account of the taunts
of his compatriots but from the indignities of the Chaldeans. To sum
up it may be said that it would be difficult for anyone who compared
the accounts of the two interviews, that in xxxvii. 17 — 21 and that in
the present passage, to imagine that they took place between the same
people; and if the question were asked as to which best suited the
character of the prophet, would there be any hesitation in deciding on
the authentic record ?

14 — 18. Following upon a request by Zedekiah for counsel, Jere-
miah advises the king to surrender.

14. the third entry. This place is unknown and such a description
is -not used elsewhere. Giesebrecht suggested that it might be the
entry of the body-guard, a reading which can be obtained by a slight
change in the Heb. (ci. 2 K. xi. 19).

16. secretly, lxx. omits.

As the Lord liteth &c. To take an oath by Jehovah was not
a breach of the third commandment; cf iv. 2; Dt. vi. 13, x. 20. The
form of the oath is strange ; that made us this soul means that gave us
life (cf. Is. Ivii. 16). _.

17. go forth. This can hardly have been intended as a plea that
the king should desert, the soul of even such a man as Zedekiah would
have revolted against the suggestion. The alternative is that the king
was urged to surrender; on the difficulty of so doing see above.

king of Babylon's princes. Nebuchadrezzar was not present in
person (cf. xxxix. 5).

286 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxviii. 18-24

and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of
their hand. 19 And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am
afraid of the Jews that are fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest
they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me. 20 But
Jeremiah said. They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee,
the voice of the Lord, in that which I speak unto thee : so it shall
be well with thee, and thy soul shall live. 21 But if thou refuse
to go forth, this is the word that the Lord hath shewed me :
22 Behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house
shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those
women shall say, ^Thy familiar friends have ^set thee on, and
have prevailed over thee : now that thy feet are sunk in the mire,
they are turned away back. 23 And they shall bring out all thy
wives and thy children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not
escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the
king of Babylon: and ^thou shalt cause this city to be burned
with fire. 24 Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no man

^ Heb. The men of thy peace. ^ Or, deceived thee ^ Heb. thou shalt burn dc.

19 — 23. The king's fears are brushed aside and terrible warnings
put in their place.

19. afraid. The Heb. word is rather uncommon, it is generally
used of anxiety, or worry rather than of actual fear. The root is the
same as that from which Doeg is derived (1 S. xxi. 8, &c.).

mock. Better make a toy of me, divert themselves with me.

22. all the ivomen &c. The usual fate of the harem ; cf Senna-
cherib's boast that he had taken from Hezekiah ' his daughters, female
inmates of his palace and female slaves.'

Thy familiar friends &c. The last part of this v. forms two strophes
of a Qinah measure. Budde {HDB. 'Heb. Poetry') thinks that this
measure was used by the women especially, either in lamentation for
the dead, or in taunt-songs as here. The first line appears again in
Chad. 7 where it is almost certainly borrowed from this passage (see
Brewer, Ohad. p. 6).

mire. Cf. v. 6. The connexion may only be artificial as the figure
here used is that of a wayfarer who strays into a bog and is then
deserted by his fellow-travellers.

23. This V. is rejected by Duhm as redundant.

24 — 28 a. Zedekiah warns the prophet to keep the subject matter
of the interview secret and provides him with an answer to any en-
quiries which may be made by the princes.

24. There seems no point in Zedekiah's warning as the prophet

XXXVIII. 24-28] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 287

know of these words, and thou shalt not die. 25 But if the princes
hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and
say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the
king ; hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death :
also what the king said unto thee : 26 then thou shalt say unto
them, I ^presented my supplication before the king, that he would
not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there. 27 Then
came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him : and he told
them according to all these words that the king had commanded.
So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not ^per-
ceived. 28 So Jeremiah abode in the court of the guard until
the day that Jerusalem was taken.

1 Heh. caused to fall. ^ Or, reported

had declared from the first that the city was to fall. His persistence,
however, might constitute an aggravation of his crime.

26. Critics have displayed much ingenuity in defending Jeremiah
from the charge of deception, probably quite unnecessarily, as it is
almost certain that the account here given of the prophet's action is
not authentic. At the same time OT. furnishes many examples of
actual deceit (cf the threefold story in Gen. xii. 12, xx. 1, xxvi. 7;
and the blessing of Jacob, Gen. xxvii. 19 ; also Rahab's treachery in
Josh. i.).

27. ' They questioned Jeremiah, and Jeremiah lied quite calmly.'
Duhm.

Chapters XXXVHI. 28 6— XXXIX. 14.

The Fall of Jerusalem.

This section is fiilf of difficulties and the gi-eater part of it is missing from
Lxx. As the previous chh. dealt with the fortunes of Jeremiah during the siege,
an account of what befell the prophet when the Babylonians actually entered
the city would have been the natural sequel ; such an account is indeed presented
in this passage but it has been so overlaid by other matter that to a casual
readci the fate of Zedekiah and of the people in general is the important subject
of the narrative. The fate of the king and people is however dealt mth at some
length elsewhere in the book (see lii.), and much of the matter contained in the
present ch. has the appearance of being taken from the account in that eh.
Duhm, Cornill, and Giesebrecht accept only vv. 3 and 14 in xxxix. as genuine.
This involves the rejection of three groups of vv.: (a) vv. 1, 2; (b) iw. 4 — 10;
(c) vv. 11 — 13. The first group interrupt the sequence between xxxviii. 28 &
and xxxix. 3 and seem to be a note of time introduced from lii. 4 — 7 (2 K.
XXV. 1—4) ; there can be little doubt that they are a gloss and should be omitted.

288 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxviii. 28-xxxix. 3

The second group of vv. are missing from lxx. and they connect awkwardly with
the rest of the passage : (i) v. 4 makes the flight of Zedekiah subsequent to the
entry of the princes and their taking up a position in the middle gate, whereas
lii. 7 says that the men of war fled when the first breach was made ; (ii) the
princes mentioned in v. 3 are ignored in the rest of the passage, and Nebuzaradan
— who is not mentioned in the list — is aj^parently in charge of the fallen city.
But according to lii. 12 Nebuzaradan did not arrive in Jerusalem until a month
after it had been captured. The third group of vv. are actually concerned with
Jeremiah, but it is very doubtful whether Nebuchadrezzar would be at pains
to give special instructions about the prophet ; further they are, with the previous
group, missing from lxx. ; and Nebuzaradan is likewise mentioned in them.
At the same time the grounds for rejection are not so strong as in the case of
vv. 1, 2 and 4 — 10 and the present writer shares Giesebrecht's hesitation in re-
jecting them.

And it came to pass when Jerusalem was taken, XXXIX.
1 ^(inthe ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah,inthe tenth month,
came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against
Jerusalem, and besieged it ; 2 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah,
in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was
made in the city :) 3 that all the princes of the king of Babylon
came in, and sat in the middle gate, even Nergal-sharezer,
Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, ^Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer, ^Rab-mag,

1 See ch. lii. 4, &c., 2 Kings xxv. 1—12. ^ Titles of officers.

XXXIX. 3. sat. The word suggests that the capture of the
city was completed and that the princes met in conference to decide
matters connected with its fate.

middle gate. The situation of this gate is not known.

Nergal-sharezer &c. The names in this v. have been the source
of much trouble to critics and it is very hard to say to what extent
they are personal or official designations. In u 13 only two princes
are mentioned and each of them has an official title after his name;
Hitzig regards this shorter list as the original and looks upon the
present v. as a corruption of it. It seems possible that by mistake
Nergal-sharezer has got into the list twice, Samgar being a corruption
of Sar-mag = Rab-mag, i.e. the office of Nergal-sharezer in both the
other places in which he is mentioned. If Samgar-nebo is a proper
name it is the only instance of nebo occurring in the second half of
a name; at the same time it is possible that Samgar is related in some
way to Shamgar (Jud. iii. 31) and possibly to the king of Gargamish
named Sangar (see Tiele, Babyl.-assyr. Gesch. p. 175). Sarsechim is
unknown and is probably a corruption of shazban (v. 13) and by com-
bining it with the previous nebo(u) the reading Nebushazban is obtained.
The second mention of Nergal-sharezer, who is perhaps the Nergal-

XXXIX. 3-6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 289

with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon. 4 And
it came to pass that when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all
the men of war saw them, then they fled, and went forth out of
the city by night, by the way of the king's garden, by the gate
betwixt the two walls : and he went out the way of the Arabah.

5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and over-
took Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho : and when they had taken
him, they brought him up to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon to
Riblali in the land of Hamath, and he ^ gave judgement upon him.

6 Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah
before his eyes : also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of

^ Heb. spake judgements with him. See ch. xii. 1.

shar-usar who succeeded Amil-marduk on the throne of Babylon, is due
to the effort of a scribe who missed his name from the already corrupted
text and added it in order to make the v. agree with v. 13.

Rab-saris. The meaning of this title is either chief of the eunuchs
or better of the heads (see on xxxviii. 7).

Rab-mag. Probably chief of the soothsayers or perhaps of the
princes ; Cheyne says that in the Assyrian character Mag = rabu =
prince.

4. the king's garden. According to Neh. iii. 15 this was near the
wall of the pool of Siloam.

the two walls. The same phrase is used in Is. xxii. 1 1 in a passage
describing the construction of a reservoir — probably the pool of Siloam
(see above) — as part of the measures which were taken to defend
Jerusalem against a siege. The walls were evidently in existence
before the pool was made — unless the wording of Is. xxii. 1 1 is decep-
tive— and therefore the suggestion that a second wall was built to
defend the pool is probably mistaken. The reference is almost cer-
tainly to the walls of the Tyropoeon valley, the one running along its
edge on the western side, the other running across the mouth of the
valley (see G. A. Smith, Jei-usalem, i. pp. 220 ff.).

the Arabah. The deep valley of the Jordan to the north of the
Dead Sea. The name is also applied to the depression to the south
running down to the Gulf of Akaba (Dt. i. 1), and in modern times
exclusively so. The king's object was evidently to reach the trans-
Jordanic region, perhaps hoping to find refuge there as Ish-bosheth did
from the Philistines (2 S. ii. 8 ff.), and David from Absalom (2 S. xvii.
22 ff.). . ^ . .

5. Riblah. The name survives in the small modern village of
Ribleh situated on the Orontes some fifty miles south of Hamath. In
ancient times it was a position of great strategic importance as being
the ' gateway into Southern Syria from the North.' It had been used as

B. 19

290 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxix. 6-it

Judah. 7 Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him
in fetters, to carry him to Babylon. 8 And the Chaldeans burned
the king's house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and
brake down the walls of Jerusalem. 9 Then Nebuzaradan the
^captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the
residue of the people that remained in the city, the deserters
also, that fell away to him, and the residue of the people that
remained. 10 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of
the poor of the people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah,
and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. 11 Now
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jere-

1 See Gen. xxxvii. 36.

headquarters by Pharaoh Necho (2 K. xxiii. 33) as well as by Nebu-
chadrezzar \

7. he put out Zedekiah's eyes. This cruel form of punishment is
found in all parts of the world and survived into the Middle Ages in
Europe. An added torture was to arrange that the victim should
witness some horrible sight before being blinded as was the case with
Zedekiah. The punishment was borrowed by the Venetians from the
East as a punishment of Doges who had shewn especial incapacity.
Kuskin describes it as 'grave in judgment; in the perfectness of it,
joined with infliction of grievous sight before the infliction of grievous
blindness ; that so the last memory of this world's light might remain
a grief.' St Mark's Rest, § 78.

fetters. As the blinded king was incapable of making his escape,
the chains were merely a mark of indignity.

8. In ancient warfare, when the hold on conquered territory was
often very slight, the policy of unlimited plunder and damage was
generally pursued. The spoil too of the fallen city was the expected
reward of the victorious army.

9. the guard. The Heb. word means literally the slaughterers,
and is even used of the cook who had to slay the animals which he
prepared for the table (1 S. ix. 23 f.). Here and in Gen. xxxvii. it is
used of the royal bodyguard.

10. vineyards and fields. The representative of a foreign con-
queror restored to the poor of the land the possessions which their
fathers had lost to the greed of the rich.

11. If the information given in this v. is correct Nebuchadrezzar

1 Cf. Dean Stanley's description in The Jetvish Church, u. p. 448, ' On the banks of
a mountain stream, in the midst of a vast and fertile plain at a central point, where
across the desert the roads diverge to the Euphrates, or along the coast, or through
the vale of Coele Syria to Palestine and the South, no more advantageous place of
encampment could be imagined.'

XXXIX. II-16] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 291

miah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, 12 Take
him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto
him even as he shall say unto thee. 13 So Nebuzaradan the
captain of the guard sent, and Nebushazban, Rab-saris, and
Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king
of Babylon ; 14 they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court
of the guard, and committed him unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam,
the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home : so he dwelt
among the people.

recognised that Jeremiah had rendered valuable services to the Baby-
lonians ; his knowledge of the prophet may have been derived, either
directly or indirectly, from the deserters who had gone over to the
Babylonians.

13. See on v. S.

14. Gedaliah. See on xxvi. 24.

home. To his own house probably, not to the temple as Hitzig
supposed.

Chapter XXXIX. 15—18.
The Message to Ehed-melech.

This section is evidently a supplement to the account of Jeremiah's life
during the siege, and it owes its place here to the desire of the editor to complete
the story of the siege before gi\ing this account of the prophet's benefactor.
The authenticity of the narrative has been denied by Duhm and Cornill as well
as by other critics, but if it is not a genuine story there seems to have been
little point in inventing it. The deed of kindness for which Ebed-melech is
rewarded, and which no doubt required much courage, was described in xxxviii.
7 — 13 ; probably this prophecy was uttered soon after the performance of the
deed to which it refers. The teaching of it is, that acts of kindness to His
servants, whether they be small or great, do not go unnoticed by God (cf. Matt.
X. 40 ff., XXV. 31 — 46). The final end of Ebed-melech is not kno\vn ; he may have
gone to Babylon with the other exiles, or perhaps he was among those eunuchs
who were taken into Egypt (xli. 16). There is a promise to eunuchs as a class
in Is. Ivi. 3flF. and in NT. they were not unblessed: cf Acts viii. 25flF.

15 Now the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, while he
was shut up in the court of the guard, saying, 16 Go, and speak
to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying. Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring my words upon

19—2

292 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xxxix. .6-xl. i

this city for evil, and not for good; and they ^ shall be accom-
plished before thee in that day. 17 But I will deliver thee in
that day, saith the Lord : and thou shalt not be given into the
hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. 18 For I will surely
save thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall
be for a prey unto thee : because thou hast put thy trust in me,
saith the Lord.

^ Or, shall be before thee

17. Sometimes it is the lot of the righteous to be taken away
before the evil comes (cf. Is. Ivii. 1).

the men... afraid. Either the invaders or the princes who were
anxious to punish him for his rescue of Jeremiah from the cistern.

18. a prey. See on xxi. 9.

CHAPTERS XL.— XLV.

These chh. complete the history of the i)rophet as far as it is recorded, telling
the story of his life in Palestine after the carrying away of the exiles to Babylon,
and of his involuntary sojourn in Egypt where according to tradition he died.

Jeremiah decides to remain in Palestine, xl. 1 — 6.

The murder of Gedaliah and its sequel, xl. 7— xli. 18.

The migration to Egypt, xlii. 1 — xliii. 7.

Forecast of the conquest of Egypt, xliii. 8 — 13.

Condemnation of the worshij) of the queen of heaven, xliv.

The Rebuke to Baruch. xlv.

Chapter XL. 1 — 6.

Jeremiah decides to remain in Palestine.

This passage, except v. 6, is rejected by Duhm and Cornill as legendary.
It seems clearly inconsistent with the statement in xxxix. 14 that Jeremiah
was committed to the care of Gedaliah, though it may be that there is here
preserved an account of what befell the prophet between his being taken out of
the court of the guard and his final release. According to v. 1 the prophet had
got as far as Ramah before he was rescued by the captain of the guard ; later
Jewish ti'adition made him go as far as Babylon itself (2 Baruch x. 2; 4 Baruch),
though Pesikta Rabbi § 26 states that he accompanied the exiles part of the
way only.

XL. 1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lokd,

XL. 1. The word. This heading is evidently out of its context
no oracle follows.

XL. 1-5] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 293

after that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go
from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among
all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah, which were carried away
captive unto Babylon. 2 And the captain of the guard took
Jeremiah, and said unto him, The Lord thy God pronounced
this evil upon this place : 3 and the Lord hath brought it, and
done according as he spake ; because ye have sinned against the
Lord, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come
upon you. 4 And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the
chains which are upon thine hand. If it seem good unto thee
to come with me into Babylon, come, and I will look well unto
thee ; but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me into Babylon,
forbear : behold, all the land is before thee ; whither it seemeth
good and ^convenient unto thee to go, thither go. 5 Now while
he was not yet gone back. Go back then, said he, to Gedaliah the
son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon
hath made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him
among the people: or go wheresoever it seemeth ^convenient
unto thee to go. So the captain of the guard gave him ^victuals

1 Or, right • Or, an allowance

Ramah. See on xxxi. 15.

2 f. These vv. have been looked upon with a certain amount of
suspicion by many critics owing to the improbability of a Chaldean
official uttering the words which are here attributed to Nebuzaradan.
Keil tries to retain the vc. by suggesting that though 'the mode of
expression is that of Jeremiah... Nebuzaradan may have expressed the
thought.' It is possible that the Babylonians were as fond of taking
up pious phrases as was Cyrus, who attributed his success equally to
Jehovah, or to Bel-marduk, according to the beliefs of those to whom
he was writing.

3. because ye have sinned. The same idea occurs in xxii. 8 i. ; Dt.
xxix. 24 f.

4. all the land. The same phrase is used in Gen. xiii. 9 ; strangely
enough in both cases it introduces a temptation to possible worldly
advantage at the cost of principle; Lot fell before his temptation,
Jeremiah resisted.

5. Now while he was not yet gone hack. The Heb. text is here
difficult to understand and as these words are missing from lxx. it is
best to regard them as a gloss, and to continue hut if not depart.

victuals. Better an allowance or ration.

294 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xl. 5, 6

and a present, and let him go. 6 Then went Jeremiah unto
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and dwelt with him among
the people that were left in the land.

6. Then went Jeremiah &c. Josephus waxes eloquent over the
choice made by Jeremiah \

Mizpah. Jerusalem had been destroyed, and in any case would
not have been fit for human habitation immediately after the pestilence
and famine and all the nameless horrors of a desperate siege (cf. 2 K.
XXV. 3). Mizpah was some four or five miles NW. of Jerusalem: it was
also the headquarters of the Jewish nation in the time of the Maccabees
after the temple had been desecrated in 168 B.C. (1 Mace. iii. 48).
The town is to be distinguished from other places of the same name, —
the word, which means watch-tower, was applied to several prominent
points ; the hill-town here meant was situated on the mountain called
Neb]^ Samwil, which rises to nearly 3,000 feet above the level of
the sea.

Chapters XL. 7 — XLI. 18.
The Murder of Gedaliah, and its Sequel.

The vividness and lifelikeness of the narratives which follow have been
recognised by all critics, and Duhm even goes so far as to rate the series as one
of the most striking and interesting passages in OT. The recognition of the
literary value of the account and the detailed knowledge which its writer ex-
hibits has not, however, prevented Schmidt from denying its authenticity, as
he rejects it as 'A confused memory of the first Chaldean governor and of an
abortive attempt by a side branch of the Davidic family to overthrow the new
government... in its present form it cannot well be earlier than the second
century,' Enc. Bib. 2386. This criticism is not supported by the opinion of
other scholars, though it must be admitted that the narrative is full of difficulties.
These difficulties may be divided into two gi'oups, {a) those concerning the
murder of Gedaliah himself ; and (6) those concerning the subsequent massacre ;
a discussion of these points is best postponed and they will be dealt vsdth in the
notes which follow. The narrative may be divided as follows :

(a) The gathering at Mizpah. xl. 7 — 12.
(6) JohanarHs warning to Gedaliah. 13 — 16.
(c) The murder of Gedaliah. xli. 1 — 3.
{d) The massacre of the pilgrims. 4 — 10.
{e) The flight of Ishmael. 11—18.

1 Ant. X. ix. 1 ''0 5^ irpocp-^TTjs oii8' 'iirecrdaL ijdeXev oOt a\\ax6ff€ ttoO fxiveiv, i]8^<as
d^etxev iirl TOis ipenriois ttjs TraTpidos Kal Toli raXanrdipoit aiiriis dial^rjcat XsLxj/dvois.'

XL. 7-9] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 295

7 ^Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the
fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon
had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and
had committed unto him men, and women, and children, -and of
the poorest of the land, of them that were not carried away
captive to Babylon ; 8 then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah,
even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan
the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the
sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the
Maacathite, they and their men. 9 And Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam the son of Shaphan sware unto them and to their men,
saying. Fear not to serve the Chaldeans : dwell in the land, and

1 See 2 Kings xxv. 23, 24. ^ Or, even

7 — 12. Gedaliah at Mizpah is joined by some of the Jews who
had fled to the surrounding territories.

7 — 9. These vv. appear in an abbreviated form in 2 K. xxv. 23 f.

7. It is not certain whether these bands were part of the garrison
of Jerusalem who had succeeded in escaping after the flight of Zedekiah,
or whether they were guerillas who had not been driven into the
capital. The country round Jerusalem offered many places of refuge
and shelter for such people ; Kinglake says that ' the destruction of
the mere buildings in such a place as Jerusalem would not involve the
permanent dispersion of the inhabitants, for the rocky neighbourhood
in which the town is situate abounds in caves, and these would give an
easy refuge to the people until they gained an opportunity of rebuilding
their dwellings.' Eothen, p. 129.

8. Jonathan. This name is omitted in 2 K. It is impossible to
say whether it is inserted here through confusion with Johanan, or
whether it is an omission by the scribe of 2 K. who overlooked it for a
similar reason.

the Netophathite. Netophah is mentioned in 2 S. xxiii. 28 ; Ezra ii.
22, &c. and is usually held to be the modern village of Beit Nettif
some dozen miles W. of Bethlehem. In 2 K. the epithet is applied to
Tanhumeth, the so7is of Ephai being absent from the account.

the Maacathite. Maacah is mentioned in Gen. xxii. 24 as being
the child of Nahor, Abraham's brother, by a concubine. The tribe
which dwelt SE. of Hermon is often referred to (Dt. iii. 14 ; 2 S. x.
6, 8, &c.).

9. to serve the Chaldeans. In the parallel passage in 2 K. xxv.
24 MT. reads because of the servants of the Chaldeans with which lxx.
of the present passage agrees ; Dr Skinner in his commentary on Kings
in the Century Bible, however, prefers the reading of MT. as ren-

296 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xl. 9-13

serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. 10 As
for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the
Chaldeans, which shall come unto us: but ye, gather ye wine
and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and
dwell in your cities that ye have taken, 11 Likewise when all
the Jews that were in Moab, and among the children of Ammon,
and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the
king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had
set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan ;
12 then all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were
driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah,
and gathered wine and summer fruits very much.

13 Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains
of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah,

dered in Jeremiah', Dr Peake prefers lxx. seeing in it a reference
to such Babylonian officials as were left behind in the conquered terri-
tory.

dwell in the land &c. Gedaliah's instructions are very similar to
the prophet's own advice to the exiles of the first siege (cf. xxix. 5).

10. stand before the Chaldeans. The expression stand before is
used in Heb. with one of two meanings, either to serve, as in xv, 19,
XXXV. 19, or to intercede, as in xv. 1. The latter meaning is best
suited to the present contexts

gather ye wine &c. That the people were able to gather the pro-
duce of the soil within a few months of the fall of Jerusalem shews
that the Babylonians had not destroyed the trees. The practice was
a widespread one in the ancient world (cf. the phrase Ketpetv or re^aveiv
ry]v yrjr), and amongst Arab warriors the destruction of an enemy's
palm-groves was a favourite exploit (see W. B. Smith, OTJC^ p. 369);
on one occasion Elisha commanded the Israelites to fell every good
tree (2 K. iii._ 19 — 25) but such barbarous methods of warfare were
against the spirit of the later Jewish legislation (cf Dt. xx. 19).

ye have taken. The people were now settling down to civilised life
and reoccupying the deserted cities of Judah.

13 — 16. Johanan and the captains endeavour to put Gedaliah on
his guard against Ishmael.

1 The reading of lxx. in the passage in Kings is rather interesting and Dr Streane
accepts it as being the original of both passages in Jer. MT. reads 1131?^ but lxx.
evidently took it to be "lliyp and accordingly rendered it by irdpodov, the passing
through.

2 Cf. Driver's paraphrase which combines both meanings: 'to be a servant
(1 K. X, 8) admitted to their presence, and able therefore to represent your interests
with them.'

XL. 14-XLI. i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 297

14 and said unto him, Dost thou know that Baalis the king of
the children of Ammon hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah
to take th> life? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them
not. 15 Then Johanan the son of Kareah spake to Gedaliah in
Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it : where-
fore should he take thy life, that all the Jews which are gathered
unto thee should be scattered, and the remnant of Judah perish?
16 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said unto Johanan the son
of Kareah, Thou shalt not do this thing : for thou speakest falsely
of Ishmael.

XLI. 1 ^Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the sou of Elishama, of the seed
royal, and one o/the chief officers of the king, and ten men with
him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and

^ See 2 Kings xxv. 25.

13. Baalis... of Ammon. There is nothing, beyond the statement
of the captains, to shew whether Ishmael was really working as the
agent of the king of Ammon ; it is rather difficult to account for such
interference on his part as he must have realised that a fresh disturbance
in Judah would bring back the Chaldeans, and that his share in the
matter would not be allow^ed to pass unpunished : cf Ez. xxi. 20.
Possibly he was the king of Ammon whose ambassador, together with
those of four neighbouring states, was sent back by Jeremiah's efforts
(xxvii.) ; in this case he may have had a grudge against Gedaliah as a
partisan of the prophet.

15. Cornill points out that the advice which Johanan gave to
Gedaliah was substantially that of Caiaphas to the Jewish rulers that
it was expedient that one man should perish rather than the whole
nation (Jn. xi. 50).

XLI. 1 — 3. Ishmael treacherously murders Gedaliah and his
Chaldean guard. Ishmael was a member of the royal house and he
may have murdered Gedaliah from motives of jealousy because he
himself had not been chosen ; or perhaps he looked upon Gedaliah as
a traitor in accepting a post under the Babylonians, it is even possible
that the governor was one of those Jews who deserted to the Chaldeans
before the fall of Jerusalem (xxxviii. 19). Perhaps Ishmael hoped to
found a new Jewish state under the protection of Ammon.

1. seventh month. According to the post-exilic tradition it was on
the third of Tisri that the crime was committed, and the yearly
recurrence of this date was marked by a solemn fast (see Zech. vii. 5,
viii. 19).

298 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xli. 1-5

there they did eat bread together in Mizpah. 2 Then arose
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with
him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan
with the sword, and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had
made governor over the land. 3 Ishmael also slew all the Jews
that were with him, even with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the
Chaldeans that were found there, even the men of war. 4 And
it came to pass the second day after he had slain Gedaliah, and
no man knew it, 5 that there came certain from Shechem, from

eat bread together. The eating together made the treachery of the
murder all the greater in the eyes of the narrator (cf Mk, xiv. 18).

2. ten men. The small number of Ishmael's following would not
arouse suspicion ; apparently they were men of desperate and hardy
character.

3. men of war. These words are missing from Lxx., and the
difficulty of supposing that the governor's Chaldean _ guard was not
sufficiently powerful to prevent the murder is thus avoided.

4 — 10. Ishmael adds to his crimes by massacring a party of
pilgrims from North Israel. To account for this further outrage is
even harder than to suggest reasons for the slaying of Gedaliah.
Perhaps it was the fear of discovery, or merely the desire for plunder
that prompted the deed ; though it is equally likely that Ishmael and
his accomplices were acting from deeper motives and that their
hatred of everyone who even in appearance accepted the Chaldean
supremacy led them to treat these subjects of the Babylonians
as they had treated the governor of the Southern province. Perhaps
the most natural explanation, however, is to look upon Ishmael
and his band as mere desperadoes who, once they had tasted blood,
desired to do as much mischief as possible before fleeing for safety to
the protection of Ammon.

4. the second day. According to Jewish reckoning the next day
would be thus described.

5. The pilgrimage from these Northern sanctuaries to Jerusalem
seems to point to some close connexion between the people of the two
provinces in religious beliefs (cf 2 K. xvii. 24 ff'.; Ezra iv. 2). Dr Kennett
has made some interesting suggestions in this connexion, see his article
The Origin of the Aaronite Priesthood in /. Th. S. for Jan. 1905 ^

Shechem. The site of Shechem is now occupied by the town of
Ndblus. The sanctuary there took the place of an earlier Canaanite
shrine to Baal-berith (Jud. ix. 4 &c.).

1 Dr Kennett, however, does not lay any stress on the action of these men who
may very well have been originally refugees from Judah ; cf. v. 8, the stores were
3vidently close by. (Op. cit. p. 174, n.)

XLi. s-8] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 299

Shiloh, and from Samaria, even fourscore men, having their beards
shaven and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with
^oblations and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to the
house of the Lord. 6 And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went
forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went :
and it came to pass, as he met them, he said unto them. Come
to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. 7 And it was so, when they
came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah
slew them, mid cast them into the midst of the pit, he, and the
men that were with him. 8 But ten men were found among
them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not: for we have stores
hidden in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of

^ Or, meal offerings

Shiloh. See note on vii. 12. It seems rather strange to find the
town still in existence after the example which Jeremiah was able to
draw from its ruined condition ; it may have been re-built in the
meantime, or possibly the reading of lxx. Salem is the correct one.

beards shaven and... clothes rent, and having cut themselves. These
signs of mourning are evidently intended to shew the sorrow of the
pilgrims at the destruction of Jerusalem, the mention of the house of
the Lord does not therefore mean that it was actually standing or that
the men from Ephraim were ignorant of what had taken place ; a sacred
spot was still hallowed even if the outward sanctuary had itself been
destroyed. The practices of cutting oneself for the dead and shaving
off the corners of the beard are forbidden by Dt. xiv. 1 &c. (see on xvi.
6), but it is not quite clear that there was a breach of these prohibitions
in the present case.

oblations and frankincense. The pilgrims wt-re evidently going up
to Jerusalem to keep the feast of ingathering (cf. xl. 12 and Ex, xxiii.
16), which took place on the fifteenth of the seventh month ; cf. v. 1,
and see Lev. xxii. 34, 39 (P).

6. weeping. If this refers to Ishmael, as according to MT. it does,
there is here another exhibition of his treacherous nature ; it is probably
best to make weeping a plural and refer it to the pilgrims ; this was
apparently the reading of the text used by lxx. There is perhaps a
reference to the treachery of Ishmael in Ecclus. xii. 16 'though an
enemy weep with his eyes, when he findeth opportunity he will not be
satiated with blood.'

8. stores hidden. See a description of such stores in Thomson,
The Land and the Book, i. pp. 89 f., ii. p. 194, iii. p. 485\

of oil. Olive oil is still a staple article of diet in the East supplying
the fat which more Northern races obtain from animal foods.

1 St Thomas Aquinas quotes this v. as a justification for borrowing money on
usury for a good purpose: 'it is lawful for a good purpose, as for the relief of one's

300 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xli. 8-14

honey. So he forbare, and slew them not among their brethren.
9 Now the pit wherein Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the
men whom he had slain, by the side of Gedaliah, (the same was
that which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of
Israel,) Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were
slain. 10 Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of
the people that were in Mizpah, even the king's daughters, and
all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the
captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam: Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive,
and departed to go over to the children of Ammon.

1 1 But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains
of the forces that were with him, heard of all the evil that Ish-
mael the son of Nethaniah had done, 12 then they took all the
men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and
found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon. 13 Now it
came to pass that when all the people which were with Ishmael
saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces
that were with him, then they were glad. 14 So all the people

9. by the side of Gedaliah. A slight change in MT. makes it agree
with the reading of lxx. was a great pif^.

Asa... had made. See 1 K. xv. 22 ; 2 Cli. xvi. 6.

10. the king's daughters. The phrase means princesses of the blood
royal, not necessarily the daughters of Zedekiah ; see note on 'the
king's son' (xxxvi. 26).

11 — 18. Ishmael is not allowed to escape unmolested, for Johanan
and other leaders pursue him so hotly that he is compelled to leave his
captives behind.

12. Gibeon. The great waters are evidently the same as 'the pool
of Gibeon' mentioned in 2 S. ii. 13. 'There is still an ancient broken
reservoir on the west side of the hill of Gibeon and in the wet season
there is a considerable pond in the plain below the modern village.'
The modern village is called el-Jib and is about a mile to the north of
Neby Samwil, the hill upon which Mizpah is situated,

own necessity or that of another, to borrow money at usury of him who is prepared
so to transact usuriously ; as it is lawful for him who falls amongst robbers to declare
the goods that he has to escape being slain, after the example of the ten men.'
Summa, ii. ii. 68. 4.

1 MT. reads IH^^IJ T'3 lit. btj the hand of Gedaliah, which hardly makes good
sense, though Job xv. 23 ' the day of darkness is ready at his hand' possibly furnishes

a parallel. The reading of lxx. ^piap fiiya represents ?n3 "113.

XLi. 14-18] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 301

that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah cast about
and returned, and went unto Johanan the son of Kareah. 15 But
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight
men, and went to the children of Ammon. 16 Then took Johanan
the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were
with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered
from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he
had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even the men of war, and
the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had
brought again from Gibeon : 17 and they departed, and dwelt in
^Geruth Chimham, which is by Beth-lehem, to go to enter into
Egypt, 18 because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of
them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah
the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor
over the land.

1 Or, the lodging place of Ghimham

14. cast about. An archaism meaning to turn round. Several
examples of the use of this phrase are quoted by commentators : John
Gower in Confessio Amantis (fourteenth century) writes 'Then cast I all
the worlde about, ' and Sir Philip Sidney uses the same expression in
his Arcadia 'Musidorus could doe no more but pers wade the mariners
to cast about againe.'

16, from Mizpah. There is evidently a slight confusion in MT.
here as the captives were recovered from near Gibeon. Hitzig's emenda-
tion gives the correct reading the people whom Ishmael... had carried
away captive from Mizpah.

17. Geruth Ghimham. The word Geruth occurs here only, and
Ewald suggests that it means inn or khan, so margin lodging -place.
Aq. and Josephus {Ant. x. ix. 5) read Gidroth-sheepfolds, and this
reading is accepted by Hitzig and most recent scholars. Chimham is
probably the son of Barzillai mentioned in 2 S. xix. 37 &c. It has been
suggested that it was from this khan that Joseph took the infant
Saviour into Egypt: Stanley, Sin. and Pal?-^ p. 129.

Chapters XLH. 1— XLIII. 7.

The Migration to Egypt.

The genuineness of this passage is acknowledged by nearly all critics ; Duhm,
however, rejects vv. 7 — 18, 22 as being a later addition. The narrative seems

302 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlii. t-4

to come from an eye-witness, and there is every reason for supposing that Baruch
is the author of the passage.

(a) The prophets intercession and guidance are asked for. xlii. 1 — 6.
(?») The prophet declares God^s message, hut anticipates the disobedience

of the people. 7 — 22.
(c) The flight into Egypt, xliii. 1—7.

XIiII. 1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the
son of Kareah, and ^ Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the
people from the least even unto the greatest, came near, 2 and
said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we pray thee, our supplica-
tion ^be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the Lord
thy God, even for all this remnant ; for we are left but a few of
many, as thine eyes do behold us: 3 that the Lord thy God
may shew us the way wherein we should walk, and the thing
that we should do. 4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto
them, I have heard you ; behold, I will pray unto the Lord your
God according to your words; and it shall come to pass that
whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it

1 In ch. xliii. 2, Azariah. ^ H.eh.fall.

XLII. 1 — 6. The captains of the various bands and all the
remnant of the people ask Jeremiah for his intercession on their
behalf, at the same time promising to do whatsoever God shall reveal
to him.

1. Jeremiah is once more brought upon the scene after the story
of Ishmael's crimes ; no information is given as to whether the prophet
shared in the discomforts of those who fell into the hands of the
murderers of Gedaliah, or whether he was absent from Mizpah at the
time of the outrage.

Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah. A certain Jezaniah the Maacathite
is mentioned amongst the captains in xl. 8 ; and in xliii. 2, as mg.
points out, a son of Hoshaiah named Azariah occurs. The question of
the identity of these persons and their number is very complicated.
LXX. reads here and in xliii. 2 Azariah the son of Maaseiah.

2. The Jews came to Jeremiah for counsel as to the manner in
which the migration was to be carried out, rather than for direction
whether it was God's will or not. The unnatural servility of the request,
coupled with the subsequent behaviour of the people, gives a clue to
the depth of their sincerity.

the Lord thy God. The prophet is regarded as a kind of magician
with means of approaching God which are denied to others.

3. the way. This use seems to be a reminiscence of Jeremiah's
own teaching; cf vi. 16.

XLii. 4-1 1] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 303

unto you ; I will keep nothing back from you. 5 Then they said
to Jeremiah, The Lord be a true and faithful witness ^amongst
us, if we do not even according to all the word wherewith the
Lord thy God shall send thee to us. 6 Whether it be good, or
whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God,
to whom we send thee ; that it may be well with us, when we
obey the voice of the Lord our God.

7 And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the
Lord came unto Jeremiah. 8 Then called he Johanan the son of
Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him,
and all the people from the least even to the greatest, 9 and
said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto
whom ye sent me to ^present your supplication before him:
10 If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and
not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up :
for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you. 11 Be

^ Or, against ' Or, lay

5. amongst. Better with mg. against. Cf. Dt. xxxi. 28.

7 — 22. The word of the Lord comes to Jeremiah advising the
people to remain in the land where they were and assuring them
of His gracious favour if they carry out His command. The king of
Babylon will shew them kindness and their fears of attack will prove
to have been unfounded. On the other hand if they persist in their
intention of going down to Egypt in order to escape from the things
that they dread such action will have the very opposite effect.

7. after ten days. As the message did not come to Jeremiah
immediately, the faith and patience of prophet and people alike must
have been much tried. In a similar way Ezekiel had on one occasion
to wait for seven days for the w'ord of the Lord to come to him (iii. 15 f.).
These experiences plainly teach that the Divine message was something
quite definite, and did not depend merely on the prophet's judgement;
it may be that some mechanical means were used by Jeremiah for
discovering God's will, though this is very unlikely. The leaders in all
probability made use of the interval to collect stores and to elaborate
their plans for going down into Egypt. It is evident that the command
of Dt. xvii. 16 that the people were to return to Egypt no more was
unknown at this time, or that its provisions were held to be inapplicable.

9. Jeremiah reminds the people that he undertook to intercede
for them at their own request.

10. will I build &c. In i. 10 these words are applied to heathen
nations .

1 repent me. See on xviii. 8. God has punished His people, He
will now compensate them; cf Is. xl. 1 f

304 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlii. ii-,8

not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid ; be not
afraid of him, saith the Lord : for I am with you to save you,
and to deliver you from his hand. 12 And I will grant you mercy,
that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to
your own land. 13 But if ye say. We will not dwell in this land ;
so that ye obey not the voice of the Lord your God; 14 saying.
No ; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see
no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of
bread; and there will we dwell: 15 now therefore hear ye the
word of the Lord, 0 remnant of Judah : thus saith the Lord of
hosts, the God of Israel, If ye wholly set your faces to enter into
Egypt, and go to sojourn there; 16 then it shall come to pass,
that the sword, Avhich ye fear, shall overtake you there in the
land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye are afraid, ^ shall follow
hard after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die. 17 So
shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt
to sojourn there ; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and
by the pestilence : and none of them shall remain or escape from
the evil that I will bring upon them. 18 For thus saith the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel ; As mine anger and my fury hath

^ Heb. shall cleave after you.

11. Be not afraid. According to lii. 30 Nebuzaradan deported a
large number of people from Judah in the three and twentieth year of
Nebuchadrezzar; this deportation took place some five years after the
final capture of Jerusalem and may have been connected with the
murder of Gedaliah. It is possible that if the loyal commanders xwith
Jeremiah in their midst had remained where they were and trusted to
the Babylonian sense of justice, this deportation would not have taken
place; by their flight they confessed their guilt in the eyes of the
conquerors, and probably removed from Judah all those who would
have been able to give an exact and unbiassed account of what had
actually taken place.

12. to return. Read with Syr. and Vulg. to dwell; the difierence
is one of pointing, and as the party was actually in Jewish territory at
the time they could not return thither.

14. we shall see no war. Owing to its position as a 'buffer-state' be-
tween Egypt and Babylonia Palestine was the scene of perpetual warfare,
and so it continued to be until Egypt and Syria — the successor of Babylon
— together with Judah itself were all reduced to a common obedience
under the rule of Rome. Whether the longed for peace was obtained
even in Egypt is a matter of doubt : see on xliii. 8 — 18.

XLii. 18-XLIII. 3] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 305

been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall
my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into
Egypt : and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and
a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.
19 The Lord hath spoken concerning you, 0 remnant of Judah,
Go ye not into Egypt : know certainly that I have testified unto
you this day. 20 For ye have dealt deceitfully ^against your
own souls ; for ye sent me unto the Lord your God, saying, Pray
for us unto the Lord our God ; and according unto all that the
Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it :
21 and I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not
obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in any thing for the which
he hath sent me unto you. 22 Now therefore know certainly
that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pesti-
lence, in the place whither ye desire to go to sojourn there.

XLIII. 1 And it came to pass that when Jeremiah had made
an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the Lord
their God, wherewith the Lord their God had sent him to them,
even all these words, 2 then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah,
and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying
unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely : the Lord our God hath
not sent thee to say. Ye shall not go into Egypt to sojourn there :
3 but Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for

^ Or, in your souls

19. The prophet can tell from the bearing of the people that his
message is unacceptable to them.

XLIII. 1 — 7. In spite of their high-sounding promises Johanan
and the people refuse to hear Jeremiah and determine to follow their
own plan; accordingly they go down to Egypt taking with them the
reluctant prophet and his scribe.

2. The word which the prophet delivers does not agree with the
policy of the leaders of the people and therefore its Divine origin is
questioned.

saying. The text as it stands is not good Hebrew, by a slight
change defiant should be read, i.e. the proud and defiant men.

3. Baruch. Jeremiah by this time was an old man, some sixty
years and more having passed since his call, and his hearers evidently
think that he is too much under the influence of Baruch. It is probable
that the latter had allowed his own opinion on the journey to become
known, hence the accusation. Perhaps Baruch was ambitious to succeed
Gedaliah as the head of a new Jewish state ; see note on xlv. 5.

B. 20

306 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xLiii. 3-8

to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put
us to death, and carry us away captives to Babylon. 4 So
Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces,
and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the Lord, to dwell
in the land of Judah. 5 But Johanan the son of Kareah, and
all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah,
that were returned from all the nations whither they had been
driven to sojourn in the land of Judah; 6 the men, and the
women, and the children, and the king's daughters, and every
person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah
the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah ; 7 and they came
into the land of Egypt; for they obeyed not the voice of the
Lord : and they came even to Tahpanhes.

5. from, all the nations. It is impossible to offer any reasonable
explanation for this phrase which seems an altogether unsuitable
description of the fugitives, lxx. omits.

6. the king's daughters. Flinders Petrie thinks that these women
were housed in the fortress of Tahpanhes in the royal chambers as the
mound is known as Qasr Bint el Yehudi, "the palace of the Jew's
daughters." See Egypt and Israel, pp. 89 f.

7. Tahpanhes. See on ii. 16.

Chapter XLIII. 8—13.
The Forecast of the Co7iquest of Egypt.

This passage is rejected by Duhm, but is accepted by most critics as handing
down a genuine prophecy of Jeremiah. At the same time it is doubtful whether
the forecast was fulfilled in the letter, as the evidence for an invasion of Egypt
by Nebuchadrezzar is scanty and not at all clear (see on v. 12). Brbt thinks
that the forecast was a reply to the accusation in v. 2 that he was influenced
by Baruch and to shew the people that his warnings against the journey had
been inspired by no mere passing whim. Whether this is so or not Jeremiah's
symbolical action in burying the stones was a vivid warning to the Jews that
the conquest of Egypt itself was not beyond the power of Nebuchadrezzar.

8 Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes,

8. Tahpanhes. No information is given as to the lapse of time
between the events of this section and the previous one. Tahpanhes
was one of the fortresses on the frontier and doubtless the fugitives

XLiii. 8-1 1] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 307

saying, 9 Take great stones in thine hand, and ^hide them in
mortar in the brickwork, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house
in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah ; 10 and say unto
them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel : Behold, I
will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my ser-
vant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and
he shall spread his ^ royal pavilion over them. 11 And he shall

1 Or, lay them with mortar in the pavement (or square) ^ Or, glittering

would have to wait there for some time before being allowed to enter
Egyptian territory.

9. hide them in mortar. This phrase has caused much difficulty
alike to the compilers of the ancient versions and to present day critics.
Lxx. translates in the forecourt which seems almost a guess, suggested by
the context, unless indeed lxx. had a different reading of the original ;
the othe rgreat Greek versions — Aq., Symm., Theod. — and Vulg. translate
in secret, a reading which can be obtained by omitting one of the
consonants of the Heb. word in mortar. This reading is accepted by
some modern scholars, and its inconsistency with the statement that
the incident occurred in the sight of the men of Judah is only verbal
(cf Ez. xii. 1—16).

in the brickwork. In the Heb. these words are represented by one
word only, and it is very similar to the word for in the mortar ; accordingly
the suggestion has been made that it has crept into the text by ditto-
graphy. In any case the meaning of the word, which occurs elsewhere
in Nah. iii. 14 and possibly in 2 S. xii. 31, is not very certain. It is
used in post-biblical Heb. for objects of a rectangular shape as well as
for brickmoulds, hence the marg. square'^; the other marg. reading
pavement has the support of Flinders Petrie^, and is probably to be
accepted.

10. mi/ servant. See on xxv. 9.

will set. LXX. reading he shall set is to be preferred: cf i. 15.

his royal pavilion. The meaning of this word which occurs here

1 For a discussion of the meaning of p?D in the cognate languages see ZATW,
1882, pp. 53 ff. and Driver's note on 2 S. xii. 31.

2 Flinders Petrie supports the rendering pavement. He says ' It means a place
of bricks, or a space paved over with bricks. Not being accustomed to such an idea,
the translators could not see the sense of it. But when I came to clear the fort at
Defneh, there proved to be but one entry into Pharaoh's house; and in front of that
was a wide paved area on the north of the fort. It was a place probably for the
external guard, and for stacking goods, unloading camels, and such purposes of
out-door life in Egypt. Much of it had been washed away in the rains and there
were no stones in the part that was left. The denudation by wind and rain is ex-
treme along the coast, as is seen by the great wall of the camp, forty feet thick, which
was so completely swept away that there was no trace visible, and it could only be
found beneath the surface. This platform, however, was a place exactly corresponding
to Jeremiah's detailed account, and the identification of it is certain.' Egypt and
Israel, p. 92.

20—2

308 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xliii. 11-13

come, and shall smite the land of Egypt ; such as are for death
shall he given to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity,
and such as are for the sword to the sword. 12 And I will kindle
a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn
them, and carry them away captives : and he shall array himself
with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment ;
and he shall go forth from thence in peace. 13 He shall also
break the ^pillars of ^Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt;
and the houses of the gods of Egypt shall he burn with fire.

^ Or, obelisks ^ Or, The house of the sun Probably Heliopolis or On.

only is somewhat obscure, its relation to Assyr. suparruru which means
to spread out suggests the rendering carpet or canopy. The connexion
with the root meaning glittering (cf. marg.) is rather doubtful.

12. This V. raises the disputed question as to whether Nebuchad-
rezzar actually invaded Egypt. The material for arriving at a decision
is very slight, consisting as it does of a short inscription of Nebuchad-
rezzar which states that he invaded Egypt in his thirty-seventh year
and defeated Amasis^; and a notice in Joseph. Ant. x. ix. 7 merely
says that a Babylonian governor went down to Egypt in 581 B.C. As
regards the inscription, W. Max Miiller is doubtful whether it refers to
an actual invasion or only to the threat of one {Enc. Bih. 1246); on
the other hand L. W. King thinks that Egypt was not improbably
subject to Babylon in the early years of Amasis II (569 — 525), though
'Nebuchadrezzar's hold on Egypt cannot have been permanent' {Enc.
Bih. 452). Driver accepts the inscription.

/ will kindle. Better with lxx. he shall kindle.

carry them (i.e. the images of the gods) away captives. Cf. 1 S. iv. 11 ;
the whole narrative of the capture of the ark suggests that it contained
some image of Jehovah.

array... garment. The figure is intended to illustrate the ease with
which Nebuchadrezzar will overcome the opposition of Egypt, though
the exact point of the simile is not quite clear.

13, break. The monarch who was mainly responsible for the destruc-
tion of the Egyptian idols was Cambyses 'the Cromwell of Egypt' as
Dean Stanley calls him (Sinai and Palestine'''^, p. xxxii).

Beth-shemesh or as mg. translates The house of the sun. The
reference is almost certainly to the city called by the Greeks Heliopolis
(cf Herod. 11. 59, 63) and by the natives On; the sacred name was
Fe-rd (see Sinai and Pal.^^, p. xxvi). On was situated some six miles
to NE. of what is now Cairo, and its modern Arab name is 'Ain-esh-

^ For the text of the inscription see Trans. Sac. Bib. Arch. vii. p. 218, and
Strassmaier, Nabuchodonossor, p. 194. For further details see Driver in Authority
and Archaeology, p. 117, and Winckler, Altorient. Forschungen, i. p. 511.

XLiv. i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 309

shems, i.e. fountain of the sun. The obelisk called 'Cleopatra's Needle'
(now on the Thames embankment) formed one of an avenue of similar
pillars in front of the temple. For a vivid and detailed description of
Heliopolis and its wonders see Dean Stanley, The Jewish Church, i.
pp. 74 ff.

Chapter XLIV.
The Condemnation of the Worship of the Queen of Heaven.

Every reformation is in danger of being followed by a reaction ; in this ch.
the reaction from the reformation of Josiah is seen in its most extreme form,
i.e. in the statement that the gods which were then given up were stronger than
Jehovah Himself, and that the constant train of disasters which had ensued
upon that event was a result of neglecting to serve them. This passage contains
the last recorded prophecy of Jeremiah and Hke so many of his other sayings
it has been largely supplemented.

{a) Warning against idolatry. 1 — 14.

(6) The idolaters' defiance. 15 — 19.

(c) JeremiaKs further warning supported hy a sign. 20 — 30.

XLIV. 1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the
Jews which dwelt in the land of Egypt, which dwelt at Migdol,
and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros,

XLIV. 1 — 14. Jeremiah reminds the Jews dwelling in the various
cities of Egypt that the exile and the desolate state of Judah are due
to their own sin and that of their forefathers in neglecting Jehovah in
favour of idols. The example of the past is not enough for the exiles
who persist in following the same course, a course which can only result
in their destruction.

1. As in the last section no chronological note was introduced, so
in this no clue is given as to the length of time which has elapsed since
the settlement in Egypt. There are good reasons for supposing that
large numbers of Jews were already settled under the protection of
Pharaoh when the prophet and his fellow exiles fled from Judah. See
Additional Note, pp. 315 f.

Migdol. The town here mentioned is almost certainly not that
referred to in Ex. xiv. 2 which was probably only a small fortress or
tower. According to Ez. xxix. 10, xxx. 6, where the translation from
Migdol {to) Seveneh (i.e. Syene) should be read, Migdol represents the
northern extremity of Egypt, and doubtless the two prophets refer to
the same town which lay a little to the east of Tahpanhes and not far
from Pelusium, on the site of the modern Tel es Sernut.

Tahpanhes... Noph. See on ii. 16.

Pathros. This represents the native word for Upper Egypt, Pa-
to-ris — the land of the South (Ass, paturisi).

310 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xliv. i-io

saying, 2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel : Ye
have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and
upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a
desolation, and no man dwelleth therein; 3 because of their
wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger,
in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods,
whom they knew not, neither they, nor ye, nor your fathers.
4 Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising
up early and sending them, saying. Oh, do not this abominable
thing that I hate. 5 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their
ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other
gods. 6 Wherefore my fury and mine anger was poured forth,
and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of
Jerusalem ; and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day.
7 Therefore now thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God
of Israel : Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your own
souls, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and suckling,
out of the midst of Judah, to leave you none remaining ; 8 in
that ye provoke me unto anger with the works of your hands,
burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither
ye be gone to sojourn ; that ye may be cut off, and that ye may
be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
9 Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the
wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their
wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your
wives, which they committed in the land of Judah, and in the
streets of Jerusalem? 10 They are not humbled even unto this

2. no man dwelleth. The statements in this v. are not meant to
be taken literally.

3. incense. See on i. 16, vi. 20.

4. Cf. vii. 25, xxxii. 35.

5. Cf. vii. 26, XXV. 4. _

7. to leave you none remaining. Cf. Gen. xlv. 7 ; 2 S. xiv. 7-

8. It is rather strange that the settlers in Egypt did not adopt the
gods of the nation under whose protection they were living, if they
doubted Jehovah's power to deliver them now that they were outside
His land. Perhaps the queen of heaven was considered to be in a
different category from other terrestrial deities, and moreover she had
been worshipped whilst the people were still in Judah.

9. your wives. Read with lxx. ^owrjormces.

XLiv. 10-16] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 311

day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my
statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers. 1 1 There-
fore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel : Behold, I
will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah.
12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their
faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they
shall all be consumed ; in the land of Egypt shall they fall ; they
shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine ; they shall
die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by
the famine : and they shall be an execration, and an astonish-
ment, and a curse, and a reproach. 13 For I will punish them
that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem,
by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: 14 so that
none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of
Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should
return into the land of Judah, to the which they ^have a desire
to return to dwell there : for none shall return save such as shall
escape.

15 Then all the men which knew that their wives burned
incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great
assembly, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt,
in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, 16 As for the word that

1 Heb. lift up their soul.

12. Cf. xlii. 18.

15 — 19. The Jews taunt Jeremiah with the fact that Jehovah was
unable to save Jerusalem, and express their belief that had they
continued the worship of the queen of heaven all would have gone well
with them. Therefore they repudiated Jehovah and His prophet alike.

15. all the men... all the ivomen. According to this statement the
reply came from both men and women, -y. 19 our husbands makes the
reply come from the women alone. Probably as the worship of the
queen of heaven concerned the women most nearly they were the
acoual speakers whilst the men made it clear that they approved of
what was said\

great assembly. The suggestion of Duhm which is accepted by
Cornill and other critics that loud voice should be read is probably
right; it involves but the omission of a single Heb. letter.

even...Pathi'os. Unless the section contains the record of the

^ Maimonides says that the Jewish women of his time were much given to
astrology and soothsaying, and that therefore members of the Sanhedrin ought to
have knowledge of such matters in order to judge them. Sanhed. c. 2.

312 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xliv. r6-2o

thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not
hearken unto thee. 17 But we will certainly perform every word
that is gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense unto the
queen of heaven, and to pour out drink oflPerings unto her, as
we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in
the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem : for then had
we plenty of ^victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. 18 But
since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to
pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things,
and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
19 And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and
poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to
^worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without
our husbands? 20 Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to

^ Heb. bread. 2 Or, pourtray

proceedings of a council to consider the whole question of worship, it
is unlikely that Jews, and more especially their wives, would have been
present from the distant south. The clause should probably be omitted
as a gloss from v. 1 b.

17. every vjord&c. 'An intention only becomes binding when it
has been embodied in speech, and so gained an independent existence ;
consequently stress is frequently laid... on the utterance of the vow.'
G. B. Gray on Nu. xxx. 2, 12; cf. Jud. xi. 36, &c.

queen of heaven. See on vii. 18.

then had we plenty &c. Cf. Hos. ii. 5 'I will go after my lovers that
give me my bread and my water'; see also v. 8.

18. since we left ofi. Some critics think that the worship of the
queen of heaven was revived in the time of Jehoiakim, and that the
series of misfortunes here referred to dates from a subsequent cessation
of that worship (see Introd. to vii. 16—20). But even if there had
been a revival after the reformation under Josiah it was from that
king's reign that things began to go adversely. The fall of Jerusalem
seemed especially clear proof that Jehovah was not able to hold His
own against the gods of other nations. In the period of the decline of
the _ Roman Empire accusations were repeatedly made against the
Christians that misfortunes occurred owing to their having deserted
the old gods ; see Tert.^ Apol. § 40 ; St August, de Civit. Dei, i. 36.

19. caJces to worship her. For a description of the calces see on
vii. 18. The rendering of mg. pourtray suggests that the cakes
were either models of Ishtar, or bore her image or some other symbol
of dedication.

our husbands. The approval of the husbands was necessary (cf

XLiv. 20-25] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 313

the men, and to the women, even to all the people which had
given him that answer, saying, 21 The incense that ye burned
in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye and
your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the
land, did not the Lord remember them, and came it not into his
mind? 22 so that the Lord could no longer bear, because of the
evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye
have committed; therefore is your land become a desolation,
and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is
this day. 23 Because ye have burned incense, and because ye
have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of
the Lord, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his
testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as it is
this day.

24 Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all
the women, Hear the word of the Lord, all Judah that are in
the land of Egypt: 25 thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God
of Israel, saying: Ye and your wives have both spoken with
your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying. We
will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn in-
cense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings
unto her: establish then your vows, and perform your vows.

Nu. XXX. 6 f. which though late preserves earlier traditions). According
to vii. 18 not only did the husbands approve, but they also assisted in
the worship.

20 — 30. Jeremiah again warns the exiles that the calamities which
have befallen the nation are the result, not of the neglect of the queen
of heaven, but of the persistent idolatry and sin of which they have
been guilty. The remnant in Egypt will share the fate of their country-
men, and the very king of Egypt in whose protection they trust will
become a prisoner in the hands of his enemies.

20 — 23. The similarity of these vv. to vv. 2 — 14 has caused their
genuineness to be suspected ; they may represent a repeated warning by
the prophet.

21. the Lord remember. Cf. Hos. viii. 13; Ps. xxv. 7, &c.

22. no longer bear. Cf. Is. i. 13.

24. all Judah... Egypt. Omit with lxx.

25. Ye and your wives. LXX. again appears to have preserved the
better text reading Ye women.

establish. . .your vows. The prophet uses irony, Make good your words
and see what the effect will be.

314 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xliv. 36-30

26 Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah that dwell
in the land of Egypt : Behold, I have sworn by my great name,
saith the Lord, that my name shall no more be named in the
mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying. As
the Lord God liveth. 27 Behold, I watch over them for evil,
and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land
of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine,
until there be an end of them. 28 And they that escape the
sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of
Judah, few in number ; and all the remnant of Judah, that are
gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose
word shall stand, mine, or theirs. 29 And this shall be the sign
unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place,
that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you
for evil : 30 thus saith the Lord : Behold, I will give Pharaoh
Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the

26 ff. These vv. in their present form are full of difficulty and can
hardly reproduce the original text. According to «?. 27 all the Jews in
Egypt are to be consumed ; v. 28, however, anticipates not only survivors
in Egypt, but also those who will succeed in escaping back to Judah.
Duhm's explanation of the origin of the present text has been accepted
by most recent critics. He takes v. 28 h as original and thinks that
V. 26 was intended as a continuation of the ironic address of the previous
V. let my name be no more &c. vv. 27, 28 a are a later addition. Jeremiah's
forecasts were pitched on too pessimistic a note as the Jewish colony in
Egypt survived to become a factor of great importance in the religious
life of the chosen people, though, apparently, they did not immediately
throw off their tendency towards the worship of other gods, as the
Elephantine Papyri reveal the worship of two deities 'Asm-Bethel and
'Anath-Bethel being still carried on in the fifth century alongside the
worship of Jehovah^

29. this shall he the sign. It is not uncommon to find signs in OT.
given in the indefinite future as the guarantee of certain happenings ;
so Moses was told that when he had brought the people out of Egypt
they should worship God 'on this mountain' (Ex. iii. 12).

30. Hophra. This ruler, who is referred to but not named in
xxxvii. 5 &c., was so convinced of the stabiKty of his throne that
Herodotus reports him as saying that not even a god could move him
fromit._ Hisdownfalltookplaceafteraheavyslaughterof native Egyptian
troops in an expedition to Gyrene; the remnant believed that the king

1 See the Additional Note on 'Jewish Colonies in Egypt' and especially the
article by S. A. Cook there referred to.

XLiv. 30] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 315

hand of them that seek his life ; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah
into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy,
and that sought his life.

had sent them deliberately to their death and revolted from him taking
as their leader Amasis whom Hophra had sent to appease them. Hophra
and his Greek mercenaries were outnumbered and defeated and the
dethroned monarch was eventually strangled (Herod. 11. 163 ff., 169).

Additional Note on xliv. 1.

Jewish Colonies in Egypt.

Intercourse between Egypt and the Hebrews, if the traditions contained in
Genesis are to be taken as evidence, seems to have been very close from the
earliest times. Abraham the great ancestor of the race sojourned in that country
for a time on accomit of famine (Gen. xii. 10 &c.), and only a direct prohibition
from Jehovah prevented Isaac from following his example (Gen. xxvi. 2).
Somewhat later the sons of Jacob and their aged father went down thither for
the same reason, and their descendants, to many generations, were compelled
to remain as slaves to the Egyptians. After the establishment of the monarchy
Solomon made an alliance ^vith the daughter of the reigning Pharaoh (1 K. iii. 1),
but under the succeeding rulers Egypt was apparently a ready refuge for exiles
from Israel (cf 1 K. xi. 40). During the whole period of the Jewish monarchy
there seems to have been a party in Judah which regarded Egypt as the natural
friend and protector of the state ; but, with the possible exception of Hos. ix. 9,
there are no traces of any actual settlements of Jews in Egypt. In 608 B.C.
however, Necho II deposed Jehoahaz and took him captive into Egj-pt and
with him possibly others ; at any rate by the time of Jeremiah's residence in
the land the Jewish commimity seems to have been both numerous and wide-
spread (xliv. 1 flf.). Some very interesting records of a Jewish settlement in
Upper Egypt have recently been brought to light by the discovery of the
Elephantine PapjTi^ The people of this settlement had their own temple and
they claimed that its foundation went back beyond the time of the Persian in-
vasion (529 B.C.). There is a tradition of a somewhat late date that Jewish
mercenaries were employed by Psammetichus against the Ethiopians 2, but
whether by this is to be understood the first Egyptian monarch of that name
(reigned 663 — 609 b.c.) or the second (594 — 588B.C.) is not certain; it may be
that some of these mercenaries were the founders of the temple at Yeb, especially

^ These papyri have been edited by A. H. Sayee and A. E. Cowley, Aramaic
Papyri (1906), and a much larger collection by E. Sachau, Aramdisclie Papyrus u.
Ostraka (1911). An excellent descriptive article by S. A. Cook is to be found in
AJTli. 1915, pp. 346 ff. entitled The Significance of the Eleplumtine Papyri for the
History of Heb. Pel.

2 Ep. Arist. §§ 12 f.

316 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

as Elephantine was an important military station. Perhaps, however, the
settlement was started by fugitives from Nebuchadrezzar when he first captured
Jerusalem in 597 b.o. The personal names found in these papyri are very
interesting and the large number of them which are similar to names of
Jeremiah's contemporaries is very remarkable ^

In later times the Jews were found in very large numbers in Egypt, especially
at Alexandria ; and at Leontopolis they had from c. 170 b.c. a temple modelled
on that at Jerusalem and a true branch of the Aaronic priesthood. The great
importance of these Jewish colonies in Egypt lay in their close contact with
Greek thought, and it was amongst them that Lxx. was produced and the school
of Philo flourished^.

Chapter XLV.
The Rebuke to BarucJi.

Jeremiah finds it necessary to address words of reproof and warning to his
faithful scribe and secretary ; but to the reproofs he attaches the promise that
in the disorder and ruin which are coming upon the land Baruch's life shall be
spared. The genuineness of the passage as a whole is admitted by nearly all
recent critics ; though most of them, including Giesebrecht, reject the chrono-
logical note in the fourth year of Jehoiakim contained in the title, and would
place the warning and the expressions which called it forth at a somewhat
later period. Their main reason for so doing is that the roll was written in the
hope of moving Jerusalem and Judah to sorrow and amendment of life, whereas
the present passage looks upon the exile as certain, if not imminent. In reply
to this it may be urged, as is done by Cornill, that Jeremiah himself had no
great expectation that the people would repent and he seems to have recognised
that the possibility of their returning to Jehovah was only a remote one. It is
perhaps as well to retain the note of time and to look upon the warning as a
kind of appendix to xxxvi. ; its position at the end of Baruch's memoirs may
be due to the wi-iter's modesty, or to his wish not to interrupt the narrative
with a merely personal passage. Cornill thinks that the rebuke was administered
to Baruch because of his indignation over the fate of the people, but this theory
hardly agrees with v. 5 where see note. The thought of later times busied itself
over the motives which influenced Baruch and many traditions have been
gathered round his name. According to some of them he is represented 'as
so offended at the denial to him of the gift of prophecy and at the hard fate of
Jerusalem and at the destruction of the temple that he apostatized from
Judaism, and adopted the tenets of Zoroaster, with whom indeed they often
identify him.' Payne Smith. See further on xxxii. 12.

1 See an article in Rev. Et. Juives, liv. pp. 35 ff., La Colonic Juive d' Assouan.

2 For fuller details regarding these later colonies see Enc. Bib. 1108 ff. and the
references there given.

XLV. 1-5] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 317

The last two vv. of the ch. have been paraphrased by Keble in TTie Christian
Year, Eleventh Sunday after Trinity :

'Then in His wrath shall God uproot
V The trees He set, for lack of fruit,

And drown in rude tempestuous blaze
The towers His hand had deign'd to raise ;
In silence, ere that storm begin.
Count o'er His mercies and thy sin.

Pray only that thy aching heart,

From visions vain content to part.

Strong for Love's sake its woe to hide i

May cheerful wait the Cross beside,

Too happy if, that dreadful day,

Thy life be given thee for a prey.'

XLV. 1 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto
Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book
at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the
son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, 2 Thus saith the Lord, the
God of Israel, ^unto thee, 0 Baruch: 3 Thou didst say, Woe is
me now! for the Lord hath added sorrow to my pain; ^I am
weary with my groaning, and I find no rest. 4 Thus shalt thou
say unto him. Thus saith the Lord: Behold, that which I have
built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will
pluck up ; and this in the whole land. 5 And seekest thou great

1 Or, concerning * See Ps. vi. 6.

XLV. 3. The complaints in this v. are very similar in wording to
those of Jeremiah himself (cf. x. 19, xv. 18, &c. and also Ps. vi. 6).

4. unto Mm. These words do not fit into the context as in the
previous v. Baruch himself is addressed, not Jeremiah,

Behold &c. Cornill sees in this utterance the recognition and
declaration of the thought that because God made the world therefore
He loves it, and that consequently His pain over the fate of Jerusalem
is greater even than that of Baruch. Whilst admitting that the words
might be made to bear such an interpretation it seems simpler and
more in accordance with Heb, methods of thought to see in them a
declaration of Jehovah's right to do what seems good in His eyes quite
apart from the criticisms of feeble man.

and this in the whole land. lxx. omits and its reading should
probably be accepted as correct ; the Heb. is awkward.

5, Cornill's theory that the warning was uttered to Baruch on
account of his unselfish indignation over the fall of Jerusalem and not
because of any personal feeling is contradicted by the plain and simple
meaning of this v. Baruch was probably of high social rank (such
is Cheyne's opinion, cf xxxvi. 15, and see Life and Times, p. 146)

318 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlv. 5

things for thyself ? seek them not : for, behold, I will bring evil
upon all flesh, saith the Lord : but thy life will I give unto thee
for a prey in all places whither thou goest.

and he may have wished to become 'the leader of a new and better
Israel' {Enc. Bib. 492).

$eekest...not. The words were written as a motto in Bishop Ken's
copy of Grotius, De Veritate; they were also in the mind of Henry
Marty n at a crisis in his life, see Life by Sargent, p. 15,

CHAPTERS XLVL— LI.

This important group of chapters is concerned entirely with the ultimate
fate and future prospects either of the nations surrounding Judah and Jeru-
salem, or of those which had been brought into close contact with them — Elam
for instance is included because of the part which it was to play in the fall of
Babylon. The intimate connexion between these chapters and the vision of the
cup of the Lord's fury in xxv. has already been pointed out in the notes dealing
with that passage, together with the fact that in lxx. the prophecies, arranged
in a somewhat different order, appear immediately after xxv. 1 3. This difference,
both in order and position between MT. and lxx. of these chh., suggests that
they were composed or collected at a comparatively late date, perhaps to supply
an appropriate oracle in connexion with each of the nations included in the
catalogue in xxv. 19flF. There are also reasons for thinking that several of the
prophecies come from a time anterior to that of Jeremiah — Damascus, for
example, had long ceased to exist as an independent kingdom in his day — and
there can be no doubt that some of the other oracles include passages from
earlier prophets (e.g. xlviii. has some close connexion with Is. xv. — xvi. ; and
xlix. 7 — 22 is largely boiTowed from the work of the unknown prophet who
also influenced Obadiah). There is therefore good reason for supposing that
the group as it is contained in the canonical book is not entirely from the lips
of Jeremiah.

Some critics, however, would go further than this and deny that any part
comes from the prophet (e.g. Schwally, Wellhausen, Duhm and Giesebrecht, the
latter indeed makes an exception in favour of xlvii. and a few vv. of xlix.), and
a variety of reasons have been found by them for holding this opinion. The
most prominent argument, that Jeremiah had no concern with any nation except
his own people has already been dealt with (see Introd. to ch. i.) and need not
detain us here ; nor do the arguments based on difference of style, and the fact
that the internal affairs of Judah are ignored in these prophecies on foreign
nations call for special treatment. A more serious matter is the statement
that the conception of Jehovah in the chh. is not that of Jeremiah, inasmuch
as He is represented as a God of vengeance. In reply to this argument two
points may be made, each of which is sufficient to dispose of it : (a) there is

THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 319

in these chh., with the possible exception of xlvi. 10, no idea of the Divine
vengeance on the heathen, apart from the punishment of crimes actually com-
mitted ; and (b) it is not strictly accurate to say that Jeremiah never conceived
of Jehovah as a God of vengeance, as a study of passages such as v. 9, 29, ix. 9,
li. 20, XV. 15, XX. 12 vnll quickly shew. Schwally also urges that no opportunity
is given for the nations to repent and turn to God. But the idea of preaching
repentance to the heathen is a late one, as Coi-nill points out, and receives its
classic expression in the book of Jonah. These considerations go to prove that
no real case can be made out against the section as a whole but that each
several prophecy — and one might almost say each several verse — must be taken
on its own merits. The general conclusion, in the opinion of the present writer,
is that xlvi.— xlix. contain a genuine nucleus which comes from Jeremiah
but that large and numerous additions have been made to it ; 1. — li. require
separate treatment for wliich see notes ad loc. The chh. are easily analysed
according to the headings of the various prophecies :

Prophecy against Egypt, xlvi.
Prophecy against the Philistines, xlvii.
Prophecy against Moab. xlviii.
Prophecy against Ammon. xlix. 1 — 6.
Prophecy against Bdom. xlix. 7 — 22.
Prophecy against Damascus, xlix. 23 — 27.
Prophecy against Kedar. xlix. 28 — 33.
Prophecy against Elam. xlix. 34 — 39.
Prophecy against Babylon. 1. — li. 58.
The mission of Seraiah. li. 59 — 64.

Chapter XLVI. (=lxx. XXVL).
The Prophecy against Egypt

This ch. really consists of two main divisions : {a) vo. 2 — 12 ; and (&) vv. 13 — 28.
To the date of (6) there is no certain clue; (a) is stated to belong to the fourth
year of Jehoiakim (see v. 2), that is to the year of the battle of Carchemish —
with which event tlie prophecy claims to deal — and of the giving of the cup of
fury to the nations (xxv. 15 — 19). The genuineness of both passages has been
questioned by various critics mainly, it must be said, on literary grounds; the
looseness of the connexion between the parts, the confusion between the actual
battle and the preparations for it, the parallels to later writers contained in it,
all these have combined to discredit the prophecy, and even so moderate a
critic as Giesebrecht rejects the whole of (&) and parts of («) as later additions.
Cornill, however, after a careful re-examination of the section has been con-
vinced of its substantial authenticity, though he feels that some slight re-

320 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlvi. i, .

arrangement and the omission of several passages are necessary in order to re-
store it to its original state. The section may be analysed as follows :

(a) Title of the whole group. 1.

(&) The f ale of the army of Egypt. 2 — 6.

(c) The doicnf all of Egypt's pride. 7 — 12.

{d) The coming of Nebuchadrezzar. 13 — 19.

{e) The ruin of Egypt. 20—26.

(f) Jacob is comforted. 27 1

XLVI. 1 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the
prophet concerning the nations.

2 Of Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh-neco king of
Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which
Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of
Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

XLVI. 1, This V. forms the title to the whole series of prophecies
on the nations.

2 — 6. This section describes the preparations for the battle of
Carchemish and the actual event itself.

2. Pharaoh-neco. The title Pharaoh was an Eg3rptian word Pr-'o
'great house' which in course of time had come to be applied to the
king himself Necho II, the monarch mentioned in this v., was the
first to have the title coupled with his personal name; see Dr McNeile's
note on Exodus i. 11.

king of Babylon. It is doubtful whether Nebuchadrezzar was at
this time more than general as his father was still alive.

Carchemish. This city owed its pre-eminence, both as a military
and as a commerciaP centre, to its situation, which commanded the most
important ford over the Euphrates. It appears in Assyrian inscriptions
as Gar garnish and its modern name is Jerdblus — which Noldeke considers
to be the Arabic plural of Jirbds — or Jerdbis. In addition to a village
the site is occupied by several mounds of which the northern is the
finest. Miss Gertrude Lowthian Bell has given the following description
of the present appearance of the city. ' Until you come to Babylon
there is no site on the Euphrates so imposing as the northern mound
of Carchemish. It was the acropoHs, the strongly fortified dwelhng-
place of king and god. At its north-eastern end it rises to a high
ridge enclosed on two sides in a majestic sweep of the river. From the
top of this ridge you may see the middle parts of the strategic line
drawn by the Euphrates from Samosata to Thapsacus, strung with
battlefields whereon the claims of Europe and Asia were fought out ;
while to the west stretch the rich plains that gave wealth to Carchemish,
to Europus, and to Hierapolis' {Amurath to Amurath, pp. 33 f).

1 'A strong proof of its commercial importance is afforded by the fact that by
far the most common unit of monetary value in Assyria down to the last was the
vianeh of Carchemish.' Enc. Bih. 703.

XLVL 3-8] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 321

3 Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.

4 Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth
with your helmets ; furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail.

5 Wherefore have I seen it? they are dismayed and are turned
backward ; and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled
apace, and look not back : terror is on every side, saith the Lord.

6 Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape ; in
the north by the river Euphrates have they stumbled and fallen.

7 ^Who is this that riseth up like the Nile, whose waters toss
themselves like the rivers? 8 Egypt riseth up like the Nile, and
his waters toss themselves like the rivers: and he saith, I will

^ Or, Who is this like the Nile that riseth up, like the rivers lohose waters toss
themselves ? Egypt is like the Nile that riseth up <&c.

3—6. These verses consist of a number of short direct sentences
leading up to a chmax. The prophet in a vision sees the various parts
of the Egyptian army and calls upon them to prepare for battle.

3. buckler .. .shield. The defensive weapons of the light armed and
the heavy troops respectively.

draw near. The same phrase is used in Jud. xx. 23 ; 2 S. x. 13.

4. Harness tJie horses. The Egyptians always placed great reliance
on their chariots; cf v. 9.

get up, ye horsemen. Modern commentators favour the rendering
mount the steeds.

with your helmets. The helmets would only be put on for the actual
fighting; cf. Ez. xxxviii. 5.

furbish the spears. Cornill suggests the reading arm yourselves with
spears (cf. 2 S. xxiii. 7) as the moment immediately before the battle
was hardly the time to furbish weapons.

coats of mail. For further details of these see Enc. Bib. 606.

5. Wherefore... dismayed. Cf Am. ii. 14 f; Nah. ii. 8. Lxx. omits
have I seen it .? and makes the rest of the phrase a question. Jeremiah
quite possibly saw some of the fugitives with his own eyes.

7 — 12. The Egyptians in spite of their boasting and in spite of the
strength of their auxiliaries will be overcome, and the disaster will be
of such magnitude that recovery will be impossible. The scene once
more returns to the preparation for the battle and the description is
continued in longer sentences.

7. Who is this ? This formula introduces a prophecy in Is. Ixiii. 1 ;
cf Cant. iii. 6, viii. 5. In viii. 7 Isaiah makes use of the simile of the
overflowing waters of the Euphrates as an illustration of the sweeping
conquests of Assyria.

8. aiid his waters... rivers. This phrase is omitted by LXX. though
the parallelism seems to require it.

B. 21

322 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlvi. s-n

rise up, I will cover the earth ; I will destroy the city and the
inhabitants thereof. 9 Go up, ye horses ; and rage, ye chariots ;
and let the mighty men go forth : Gush and Put, that handle the
shield; and the Ludim, that handle and bend the bow. 10 For
that day is a day of the Lord, the Lord of hosts, a day of ven-
geance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the
sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their
blood : for the Lord, the Lord of hosts, hath a sacrifice in the
north country by the river Euphrates. 11 Go up into Gilead,
and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou

the city. No specific city is intended; lxx. omits.

9. This V. contains another description of the various arms of the
Eg)^tian host; in a vision the prophet sees them, together with the
subject and allied nations whose duty it was to supply troops to their
overlord.

Gush. See note on xiii. 23.

Put. Put supplied troops to Egypt (Nah. iii. 9; Ez. xxx. 5), to
Tyre (Ez. xxvii. 10), and to Gog (Ez. xxxviii. 6). The situation of the
country is not certain, some have identified it with the land of Punt —
Cheyne, however, rejects this identification on the grounds that Punt
never supplied troops to Egypt {Ejic. Bib. 3985). Driver, in his note
on Gen. x. 6, thinks that the Libyans are meant and points out that
'the western part of Lower Egypt (the so-called Libya Aegypti) is
called in Coptic Phaiat. ' lxx. here and in the passages in Ez. quoted
above reads At/3res.

Ludim. The similarity of this name with the Lydians of Asia Minor
who later sent mercenaries to Psammetichus led Sayce (Higher Criticism
&c. pp. 134 f ) to regard them as identical. According to Gen. x. 13,
however, they were descendants of Egypt and should therefore be looked
upon as some tribe related to the Ethiopians and Libyans. Driver
and Cornill reject the above identification on these and other grounds.

10. a day of the Lord. The phrase is here used in the popular
sense of a day when Jehovah was to be avenged on His enemies. The
writer of the passage, who may well have been Jeremiah himself,
exhibits great animosity towards Egypt, an animosity which is not
strange in men who had lived in the time of Josiah and who still
remembered his tragic death at the hands of Pharaoh Necho. Jeremiah
who saw in Babylon the instrument of Jehovah could not but rejoice
at the overthrow of Babylon's chief adversary.

sword. Of Is. xxxiv. 5 ff. The present passage is probably the
original of that.

hath a sacrifice &c. Of the similar phrase in Is. xxxiv. 6 'the
Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah'; and see also Zeph. i. 7; Ez. xxxix.

11. balm. See on viii. 22, xxx. 13.

XLVi. .1-.6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 323

use many medicines ; there is no healing for thee, 12 The nations
have heard of thy shame, and the earth is full of thy cry : for
the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, they are
fallen both of them together.

13 The word that the Lord spake to Jeremiah the prophet,
how that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and
smite the land of Egypt.

14 Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish
in Noph and in Tahpanhes : say ye. Stand forth, and prepare thee ;
for the sword hath devoured round about thee, 15 ^Why are
thy strong ones swept away? they stood not, because the Lord
did ^ drive them. 16 He made many to stumble, yea, they fell

1 Or, according to some ancient authorities, Why is thy strong one sioept away ?
he stood not &c. 2 Or, thrust them doion

virgin daughter. It is somewhat unusual to find this phrase applied
to a nation other than Israel; but cf. Is. xlvii. 1.

many medicines. The Egyptians were famous for their use of
medicines ; Dr Streane refers to Homer, Od. iv. 229 f. ; Herod, iii. 1, 132 ;
Pliny XIX. 5.

no healing. The disaster which has come upon Egjrpt is one from
which recovery is impossible.

13 — 19. Eg}q3t is called upon to gather together the remnant of
her powers to resist the invader who is close upon her borders ; at the
same time she is warned that she enters upon a hopeless struggle.

13. This V. forms the heading of the prophecy and probably owes
its presence here to a supplementer (see on u 16).

14. Declare ye. The address is to an unknown body of people as
in Is. xl.

in Egypt, and publish, lxx. omits.

Migdol. See on xliv. 1.

Noph. See on ii. 16.

Tahpanhes. See on ii. 16. lxx. omits.

round about thee. lxx. reads by a slight change in Heb. thy
thicJcet which may be correct in view of the use of the same metaphor
in v>\ 22 f.

15. Why. . .swept aivayl The rendering of the mg. which reads the
singular for the plural follows some 65 Heb. mss., and also agrees with
the rest of the sentence which has the verb and pronouns in the
singular, lxx. has an interesting rendering of the passage, which is
evidently obtained by dividing up the MT. word for sumpt away into
two, Why is Apis Jied ? Thy mighty one stood not &c. Apis is the
sacred bull who was worshipped at Memphis as a re-incarnation of
Osiris, and the idea suggested is the same as that in Is. xix. 1 &c. that
a country is conquered because its gods are too weak to save it.

drive them. The same word is used of cattle in Ez. xxxiv. 21.

21—2

324 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlvi. .6-18

one upon another : and they said, Arise, and let us go again to
our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppress-
ing sword. 17 They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but
a noise ; he hath let the appointed time pass by. 18 As I live,

16. to our own 'people. The speakers are evidently foreigners who
seeing that the fortunes of Egypt are in a desperate case decide to
leave her. This sudden introduction of foreigners has appeared to
various critics as unnatural. Cornill wishes to omit all mention of them
and to make the v. refer to Apis, He hath stumbled grievously and is
fallen because 0/ the oppressing sword ; Giesebrecht is much less drastic
and by a slight change in the Heb. of the first part of the v. he reads
Thy mingled people have stumbled and fallen. This last suggestion
should probably be adopted as it avoids the awkwardness referred to
above. These mingled people (see on xxv. 20) were probably traders
who fled from Egypt, as they fled from Babylon, having no interest in
their adopted country beyond that of personal profit (Is. xiii. 14).
There may also be a reference to the mercenary troops of which the
Egyptian army was so largely composed and who likewise had little
interest in their employers' cause when once it seemed to be lost'.

the oppressing sword, lxx. renders the stvord of the Greeks and
Vulg. the sword of the dove; the latter reading is due to the tradition
that the standards of Nebuchadrezzar bore that emblem, the Heb. word,
(nyi** Yonah or Jonah) for fierceness and for dove being the same. The
former reading is presumably due to lxx. confusing Jonah with Javan
(Greece; cf Is. Ixvi. 19 &c.), and referring the prophecy to Alexander
the Great; if this was so the text in the possession of the translators
did not include v. 13.

17. They cried... a noise. The reading of the versions (lxx., Vulg.
and Syr.) is better. Call ye the name of Pharaoh a Crash. The meaning
is that a great destruction (cf Ps. xl. 2 RVm.) is coming upon the
land over which Pharaoh ruled; for a similar prophecy cf xx. 3f.

the appointed time. There is a tide in the affairs of nations as of
men and those who miss it earn for themselves the contempt of their
fellows (cf Julius Caesar, Act iv. Scene 3) ; and see Luke xix. 44, xxi. 24.

pass by. The Heb. word he^ebir is thought by some critics to
contain a play on Hophra which in Egyptian is Uah-ab-ra. For another
similar word-play on Egypt see Is. xxx. 7 'I called thee Rahab that
sitteth still.' The phrase is looked upon by many scholars as late
though Cornill accepts it as a contemporary utterance.

1 Bishop Creighton relates an incident in his History of the Papacy, i. pp. 233 f.
which well illustrates the weakness of those who rely upon mercenaries. In 1409
Ladislas I, king of Naples, threatened to seize the States of the Church and was warned
by Florence against so doing; 'he scornfully asked with what troops they would
defend themselves, the Florentine ambassador... answered, "With yours." Ladislas
checked himself, for he knew that the wealth of the Florentine citizens could allure
his followers from his ranks.'

XLVI. 18-20] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 325

saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts, surely like
Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so shall
he come. 19 ^0 thou daughter that dwellest in Egypt, ^furnish
thyself to go into captivity : for Noph shall become a desolation,
and shall be burnt up, without inhabitant. 20 Egypt is a very
fair heifer; hut ^destruction out of the north is come, *it is

1 Or, 0 thou that dwellest icith the daughter of Egypt

2 Heb. viake thee vessels of captivity . ^ Or, the gadfly
* Or, according to many ancient authorities, upon her

18. The coming conqueror is to be conspicuous above his enemies,
as conspicuous as would be one of the hills of Palestine amongst the
flat plains of Egjrpt.

Tabor. This mountain' though its height is only some 1,800 feet
is yet very conspicuous from its being surrounded by a plain, from
which it rises like a sugar-loaf^

Carmel. Mount Carmel is a great headland standing out into the
sea above which it rises to the height of 600 feet, it is therefore a
most conspicuous object. In tbe Midrash Bereshith Rabba^dd it is
said that ' Tabor came from Beth-elim and Carmel from Aspamya to
attend the law-giving at Sinai.'

19. furnish &c. i.e. prepare what will be necessary for exile ; cf
Ez. xii. 3 f

20 — 26. This passage seems to carry the history of disaster a stage
further ; in the previous section the invasion is imminent, in this the
land is already at the mercy of its enemies. The fate of Egypt is
described under various similes, she is like a heifer driven mad by
a gadfly, or again she is like a serpent whose hiding place is cut
down.

20. fair heifer. Driver proposes the translation graceful on the
ground that Heb. is a diminutive; cf Is. ii. 20, Ixi. 1. The personifica-
tion of Egypt as a heifer may have a reference to the bull Apis (cf v. 15),
the land being described as his spouse.

destruction. The mg. gadfly is probably to be accepted though this
meaning of the word is not found elsewhere^ Just as a heifer is driven
to flight by the stings of the fly, so has Egypt been made to flee before
her foes (cf Is. vii. 18 'the fly that is in the uttermost part of the

1 Cf . the description given by a traveller of the last century : ' Tabor stands in-
sulated at the north-east extremity of the plain of Esdraelon. It rises to a great
height, and appears in the bee-hive form, just as Raphael has painted it in his im-
mortal picture of the Transfiguration.' Life of Henry Venn Elliott, p. 79.

2 Cornill makes several alterations in the text, substituting "1|?3 herdsman, 'cow-
boy ' for yij) destruction and rOVZ shall become her master for X3 N3 is come, it is
come ; cf. Is. xxvi. 13.

326 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlvi. 2c^22

come. 21 Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves
of the stall ; for they also are turned back, they are fled away
together, they did not stand: for the day of their calamity is
come upon them, the time of their visitation. 22 ^The sound
thereof shall go like the serpent ; for they shall march with an

^ Or, Her sound is like that of the serpent as it goeth

rivers of Egypt'). The gadfly or hreese was apparently very common
in Egypt; cf. Aeschylus, Suppliants, 11. 307 f :

' A winged pest, armed with a horrid sting.
They who hve by the Nile call it the breese.'

Figures derived from the flight of cattle before the gadfly are often
met with in ancient literature : cf Homer, Odyssey, xxii. 229 ; Virgil,
Georg. iii. 146 ff. Examples can also be found of the same use in more
modern literature : Shakespeare, for instance, describes Cleopatra as
flying,

' The breese upon her, like a cow in June.'

Antony mid Cleopatra, Act in. Sc. 8.

Cf also

' The herd hath more annoyance by the breese
Than by the tiger.'

Troilus and Cressida, Act i. Sc. 3 1.

it is come. The reading of mg. upon her requires the change of one
consonant only in the Heb. and has the support of the versions.

21. her hired men. The Carian and Ionian mercenaries by whose
aid Psammetichus had obtained the supreme power in Egypt and who
remained in the service of his successors (cf Herod, ii. 152 ff.). It is a
strange paradox that Egypt of all nations should have been compelled
to trust to foreign mercenaries for her safety ; in the earlier history of
the nation her people were noted for their dislike of foreigners (cf Diod.
Sic. I. 67; Strabo xvii. i. 6; Herod, ii. 41; and Gen. xxxix. 6, xlii. 32).

like calves of the stall. The mercenaries after being pampered and
spoiled in peace time, proved valueless in time of war.

22. The sound... serpent. The reading of mg. is to be preferred.
Her sound is like that of the serpent as it goeth. The meaning of the
figure is evidently intended as a representation of the feebleness of
Egypt ; several suggestions, however, have been made as to its exact
interpretation ; the sound of Egypt in retreat is like the rustle of a
serpent compared with the noise of her advance to battle ; or her voice
is like the impotent hiss of a serpent (cf lxx.) driven from its lair by
woodcutters (cf v. 23). The comparison of Egypt to a serpent received

^ I am indebted for the above quotations to T. F. Eoyds, The Beasts, Birds, and
Bees of Virgil, p. 10.

XLVL .2-27] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 327

army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
23 They shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord, ^though it
cannot be searched; because they are more than the locusts,
and are innumerable. 24 The daughter of Egypt shall be put
to shame ; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of
the north. 25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith : Be-
hold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with
her gods, and her kings ; even Pharaoh, and them that trust in
him : 26 and I will deliver them into the hand of those that
seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterwards it
shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord. 27 ^But
fear not thou, 0 Jacob my servant, neither be dismayed, 0 Israel :

1 Or, /or " See ch. xxx. 10, 11.

added point from the fact that certain serpents were, by the Egj'ptians,
held to be sacred (e.g. the asp to Neph). Other writers make even more
scathing references to the objects of Egyptian worship (see Juvenal,
Sat. XV. 1 f. ; Philo, Leg. ad Caium, § 20).

axes. The word is never used elsewhere in OT. of a weapon of war —
it occurs in 1 S. xiii. 20 f. ; Jud. ix. 48 ; Ps. Ixxiv. 5 — and even in the
present passage it may have no such reference, though the unusualness
of the weapon (see Rawlinson, And. Mon. i. 459) if it were used on this
occasion by the Babylonians may have led to the employment of the
figure.

23. her forest. Egypt is so densely populated and has so many cities
(Herod, ii. 177) that it may be 'compared to a forest.. .?,o thick that the
only means of finding a way through it is by cutting it down.' Driver.
Cf. xxi. 14; Is. X. 18f., 33 f.

25. The gods, the king, and the people of Egypt are to share in
the same punishment.

Amon of No. Amon or Ammon was the chief deity of later Egypt
and the seat of his worship was at Thebes (i.e. No), the modern Karnak
and Luxor. The temple was a famous oracle and the cult of Amon-Ra
under the title of Jupiter Ammon extended far beyond the borders of
Egypt itself (see Strabo xvii. i. 43).

that trust in him. A warning to those Jews who still had confidence
in Egypt.

26. This V. is rejected by some critics as a scribal gloss especially in
view of its absence from lxx.

afterwards it shall be inhabited. The same promise is made in
Ez. xxix. 13 f

27 i. Words of comfort to Jacob almost exactly the same as these
are found in xxx. 10 f, where see notes.

328 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xLVi. 27-XLVii. i

for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of
their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and
at ease, and none shall make him afraid. 28 Fear not thou, 0
Jacob my servant, saith the Lord ; for I am with thee : for I will
make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee,
but I will not make a full end of thee ; but I will correct thee
with judgement, and will in no wise ^ leave thee unpunished.

^ Or, hold thee guiltless

Chapter XLVH. (=lxx. XXIX. 1—7).
The Prophecy against the Philistines.

A terrible description of the overwhelming of the cities of the Philistines by
the flood from the North. The sword of the Lord cannot be quieted until they
are destroyed. Other prophecies against the Philistines occur in Am. i. 6—8;
Is. xiv. 29—32; Ez. xxv. 15—17; and Zeph. ii. 4— 7, and as Cornill has pointed
out there is no trace of dependence on the part of the present passage upon
them, any similarity of phrasing being due to the similarity of the subject matter.
Those critics who reject the whole group of prophecies on the nations include
this section in their condemnation, but differ as to the time from which it
comes, Schmidt placing it in the reign of Alexander the Great (Enc. Bib. 2391),
and Duhm bringing it down as late as the second century. Erbt definitely
rejects w. 3—5, but regards vv. 6f as authentic; Giesebrecht and Cornill
accept the prophecy as genuine and the present editor feels that their arguments
are convincing.

XL VII. 1 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the
prophet concerning the Philistines before that Pharaoh smote
Gaza.

_ XLVII. 1. This V. is missing from lxx. which has merely the head-
ing On thePhilistines, and is evidently no part of the original text. The
prophecy itself gives not the slightest hint that the danger to Philistia
IS to come from Egypt, and the use of the phrases out of the north (v. 2)
and sword of the Lord {v. 6; cf. xxv. 29) makes it almost certain that
the enemy is Nebuchadrezzar and the Chaldeans.

PJiaraoh smote Gaza. Hitzig in his monograph on the subject iden-
tified Gaza with the Kadytis captured by Necho after the battle of
Magdalos (i.e. Megiddo), an account of which is to be found in Herod. 11.
159. This identification has been accepted by many recent scholars but
the difficulties involved in it are in my opinion so great as to render it
improbable\ In view of the fact that the notice of Gaza is missing from

i See .7. Th. S. xviii, pp. 44 ff.

XLVii. 2-4] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 329

2 Thus saith the Lord: Behold, waters rise up out of the
north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall over-
flow the land and all that is therein, the city and them that dwell
therein : and the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the
land shall howl. 3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of
his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling
of his wheels, the fathers look not back to their children for
feebleness of hands ; 4 because of the day that cometh to spoil
all the Philistines, to cut off" from Tyre and Zidon every helper

the text used by lxx. — unless indeed they omitted it as inconsistent with
the rest of the prophecy — the reference here may be to some quite late
historical event, such as the capture of Gaza in 312 by Ptolemy I (Soter).

2. out of the north. In a prophecy against the Philistines in Is. xiv.
31 the coming foe is likened to smoke out of the north.

overflowing stream. A ready and forcible simile to those who were
used to seeing the wadis suddenly changed from dry torrent beds to
rushing streams; cf Matt. vii. 26 f. The same figure is used in xlvi. 8
for the army of Egypt itself; and cf Is. viii. 7.

the men shall cry. The flood which is coming on Egypt is, as Duhm
says, to be 'but an episode in a great world-wide tempest.'

3. This V. contains a vivid description of the noise and tumult of
the invaders which is quite in the usual style of Jeremiah; cf iv. 13,
29, viii. 16, xlvi. 20 ff.

rushing. The word is used of an earthquake in Am. i. 1 &c. ; in the
present and similar passages (e.g. Is. ix. 4; Nah. ii. 2; Job xxxix. 24)
the use is hyperbolical.

feebleness of hands. The same phrase is used in Ecclus. xxv. 23.

4. the Philistines. This people unlike nearly all the other races
mentioned in OT. are non-Semitic^ and came originally from Caphtor
(Am. ix. 7). Their first settlement in Palestine was probably made about
the time of Ramses III (see Moore, Judges, p. 80). According to Ebers
(Aegypten u. Blicher Moses, pp. 127 ff".) and Sayce {Races &c. pp. 53 ff.)
Caphtor was situated in the coastlands of the delta, but this view is
exceedingly unlikely and nearly all scholars are agreed in identif)ang
Caphtor with Crete^ Professor K A. S. Macalister has recently made
a close study of the Philistines and his conclusions are as follows: 'The
Philistines were a people composed of several septs, derived from Crete
and the south-west corner of Asia Minor. Their civilisation probably
was derived from Crete, and though there was a large Carian element
in their composition, they may fairly be said to have been the people

^ Ewald and Stade {Gesch. des Volkes Israel, i. p. 142) are in favour of a Semitic
origin, but they stand practically alone.

2 An important exception is Professor Flinders Petrie : see Eastern Exploration,
pp. 21 f.

330 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlvii. 4-6

that remaineth: for the Lord will spoil the Philistines, the
remnant of the Msle of Caphtor. 5 Baldness is come upon Gaza;
Ashkelon is brought to nought, the remnant of their valley : how
long wilt thou cut thyself? 6 O thou sword of the Lord, how

^ Or, sea coast

who imported with them to Palestine the memories and traditions of
the great days of Minos.' Schweich Lectures, p. 28 ; cf. Evans, Scripta
Minoa, pp. 77 ff. For a history of the Philistines in their relations with
Israel see Harper, Amos and Rosea, pp. 23 ff.

Tyre and Zidon. The Babylonians invested Tyre in 586 — 5 B.C. and
the siege according to Josephus (A7it. x. xi. 1, and c. Ap. i. 21) lasted
thirteen years. There is no evidence apart from the present passage to
shew that the Philistines were important allies of Tyre and Zidon, and
the text is difficult. Cornill therefore by a slight change in Heb. suggests
the reading all the remnant of their excellency for the every helper that
remaineth of MT. According to Ez. xxix. 17 — 20 the siege of Tyre was
unsuccessful.

isle. See on ii. 10, and cf mg. sea coast.

5. Baldness. See on xvi. 6, and cf Dt. xiv. 1 ; Mic. i. 16.

Gaza. Gaza is the only Philistine town which retains any impor-
tance. Writing before the war Prof Macalister says ' It'^is a modern
well-watered and populous town, standing on the ancient site and in
the form Guzzeh retaining the ancient name.' Op. cit. p. 71. Gaza has
always been a place of great importance from both a military and a trading
point of view on account of its position on the edge of the Egyptian
desert and at the dividing point of the caravans for Arabia and Egypt.
See farther Pusey, Zejjh. pp. 86 fif.

Ashkelon. Ashkelon is again mentioned in v. 7 and it seems strange
that two only of the Philistine cities should be distinguished from the
rest. Cornill thinks that we should here read Ashdod, and Perles sees
in the unsuitable expression remnant of their valley a reference to Ekron'.
The four cities usually found are thus present in the text according to
these critics; Gath seems early to have fallen into obscurity and it has
been suggested that it had by this time been absorbed by Ashdod (see
Enc. Bib. 1646).

cut thyself. In sorrow; cf xvi. 6.

6 f These vv. have been rejected by some scholars, including Giese-
brecht, on the somewhat uncertain ground of metre. There is however
no reason for separating them from the rest of the passage. A slight
change of person is necessary in v. 7 How canst tJiou be quiet t should
be read as How can it and the mg, it for thee should be adopted ; the

^ Perles sees in DptDJ? their tialley a mistaken reading for \''\p'0]}; this be thinks
was the original way of spelling |1"lpy, traces of which can be found in the Assyrian
Amkarruna (see JQR. ii. N.S. p. 107). The reading oi hxx.'EvaKei/j. requires QpJW
in the original, and may possibly be right, as according to Josh. xi. 22 there was a
traditional connexion between the Philistines and the Anakim.

XLVU. 6, 7] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 331

long will it be ere thou be quiet ? put up thyself into thy scabbard;
rest, and be still. 7 How canst thou be quiet, seeing the Lord
hath given ^thee a charge? against Ashkelon, and against the
sea shore, there hath he appointed it.

1 Heb. it.

vv. then fit well together, v. 6 being a cry put into the mouths of the
Philistines and v. 7 the prophet's response.

6. sword of the Lord. Cf. xii. 12 (used of spoilers) ; and the
striking passage in Ez. xxi. 28 ff.

7, the sea shore. The same phrase is used of Philistia in Ez. xxv. 16 ;
Zeph. ii. 5 ff.

Chapter XLVHI. (=lxx. XXXI.).
The Prophecy against 3Ioab.

The Moabites, like the Ammonites and the Edomites, were closely related
to the childi'en of Israel and their ancestors had entered Canaan together. The
ethnic relationship, however, did not j^revent much bitterness of feeling between
the various tribes, and OT. is full of accounts of the continual struggles between
them, in fact the only peaceful account of the relations between Moab and
Israel is that contained in the story of Ruth'. For a gi*eat part of their history
the Moabites were tributary to the Northern Kingdom but in the reign of Ahab
and his successor (2 K. i. 1, iii. 5, 27) they estabUshed their independence which
they maintained, except for a short time dming the reign of Jeroboam II, until
the fall of Samaria. After the return from the exile the Moabites are not
mentioned except as a general symbol for the enemies of Jehovah and they
appear to have become merged in the Arabs. Josephus states that Moab was
conquered by Nebuchadrezzar in the fifth year after the fall of Jerusalem
{Ant. X. ix. 7), but there is no evidence of such a conquest apart from his
statement. The Moabites are interesting as being the only people of Hebrew
stock besides the Jews from whom early literature has come down, and the
inscription of Mesha is of great value in that it shews the closeness of language
and ideas existing between the Israelites and their neighbours (see Driver's
Samuel, pp. Ixxxiv — xciv, for an account of the inscription).

In \iew of the relationship between Israel and Moab, and of their close
proximity, it seems almost certain that any prophecy dealing with the nations

1 Cf. Deau Stanley, The Jewish Church, i. p. 259. 'The story of Ruth has shed a
peacefvil light over what else would be the accursed race of Moab. We strain our
gaze to know something of the long line of the purple hills of Moab, which form the
background at once of the history and of the geograjDhy of Palestine. It is a satis-
faction to feel that there is one tender association which unites them with the familiar
history and scenery of Judaea — that from their recesses, across the deep gulf which
separates the two regions, came the gentle ancestress of David and of the Messiah,'

332 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlviii. i

would include an oracle on Moab, and such oracles are found in Is. xv.— xvi. ;
Ez. XXV. 8—11 ; Am. ii. 1—3; Zeph. ii. 8—10. Suspicion has fallen however
upon the oracle contained in this ch., partly on account of its great length, and
partly because it contains close parallels both in subject matter and wording to
other passages, and especially to the prophecy in Is. xv.— xvi. Most critics
allow that the ch. contains a nucleus of genuine words of Jeremiah, but that
large additions have been made.

Moab in the earliest times of its entry into Palestine held the country east
of the Dead Sea, being bounded on the south by the 'brook of the willows'
(Is. XV. 7), and on the north by the territory of Ammon, whilst the desert
stretched away to the east. The region consists mainly of a high tableland
broken up by a number of deep gorges or canons, and there is evidence even
to the present day of the gi-eat prosperity and large population of the land in
the far past. 'Ruined villages and towns, broken walls that once enclosed
gardens and vineyards, remains of ancient roads— everything in Moab tells of
the immense wealth and population which the country must have once enjoyed.'
Palmer, Desert of the Exodus, pp. 472 ff.

{a) The overthrow of the cities of Moab. 1—10.

(6) The decadence of Moab is dm to a false sense of security. 11—19.

{c) The destruction of Moab. 20 — 28.

(d) The fallen pride of Moab. 29 — 39.

ie) The terror inspired by the foe. 40 — 47.

XLVIII. I Of Moab. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God
of Israel: Woe unto Nebo! for it is laid waste; Kiriathaim is

put to shame, it is taken: ^Misgab is put to shame and ^ broken

♦

1 Or, the high fort 2 Or, dismayed

XLVIII. 1 — 10. A description of the fate which is to come upon
all the cities of Moab. The inhabitants, from Chemosh the god of the
land to the humblest of his worshippers, are bidden to fly.

1. Woe unto Nebo! The prophet plunges straight into the midst
of the sorrow. Nebo is used with three distinct meanings in OT. : of the
Babylonian deity; of the mountain (Dt. xxxii. 49 b, xxxiv. 1, &c.); and,
as here, of a city (so also Nu. xxxii. 3, 38). Nebo originally belonged
to Reuben but Mesha claims to have captured it from Israel (Moabite
Stone,_/._ 14).^ An Israehte city of this name is mentioned in Ezraii. 29.

Kiriathaim. This town is mentioned in Nu. xxxii. 37 as belonging
to Reuben, it appears on the Moabite Stone as one of the possessions
of Mesha. The identification is somewhat uncertain but it is usually
regarded as being the modern Kureijat some six miles east of Mkaur,
the site of Machaerus.

Misgab. No town of this name is known and it is perhaps better
to adopt the reading of mg. the high fort, or else to substitute Moab,
according to the suggestion of Duhm.

XLViii. 1-6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 333

down. 2 The praise of Moab is no more ; in Heshbon they have
devised evil against her, Come, and let us cut her off from being
a nation. Thou also, 0 Madmen, shalt be brought to silence;
the sword shall pursue thee. 3 The sound of a cry from Horonaim,
spoiling and great destruction ! 4 Moab is destroyed ; her little
ones have caused a cry to be heard. 5 ^For by the ascent of
Luhith with continual weeping shall they go up ; for in the going
down of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of
destruction. 6 Flee, save your lives, and be like Hhe heath in

1 See Is. XV. 5. " See ch. xvii. 6.

2. Heshhon. This town was apparently Moabite by origin (Nu.
xxi. 26), it afterwards became Amorite (Josh. xiii. 17), and then Reu-
benite, and finally Moabite again. It was built on two hills some 3,000
ft. above sea level The modern name is Heshdn, and its site is thirteen
miles east of the northern extremity of the Dead Sea. According to
Cant. vii. 4 Heshbon was noted for its fish-pools.

they have devised. The Heb. word for devised contains a play on
Heshbon, and Dr Streane suggests as an English equivalent in Devizes
they have devised. Heshbon was evidently in the hands of the foe already,
by whom it had been made the headquarters for further advances.

Madmen. There is here another word play on silence and Madmen.
Since no place of this name is referred to elsewhere many critics adopt
the reading of lxx. which treats it as merely strengthening silence and
not as a proper name.

3. Ho^'onaim. This town seems never to have been in the posses-
sion of Israel, it is mentioned by Mesha under the form Horonen {II. 31 f).
The site is disputed, some scholars putting it in the south of Moab
(Cheyne, &c.), and others to the north not far from Heshbon (G. A.
Smith).

spoiling and great destruction. Cf Is. li. 19, lix. 7, &c.

4. her little ones... heard. The reading of lxx. should be adopted
they make a cry to be heard unto Zoar; as Zoar was at the south-east
end of the Dead Sea the cry of Moab went from north to south.

5. This and the previous v. are based on Is. xv. 5.

the ascent of Luhith. This place was called Loueitha in the time
of Eusebius and was situated between Zoar and Rabbath Moab (see an
article by Driver in Expos. Times for Aug. 1910). The reading of AV.
the enemies have heard is dependent on Vulg. and Kimchi.

6. the heath. See on xvii. 6. If this reading is retained the refer-
ence is to the starved and desolate condition of the fugitives for which
the stripped appearance of the juniper tree is a suitable figure. Cornill
prefers to accept the reading of the lxx. ivildass and most recent critics
agree with him. The point of the simile is that the wild ass is difficult
to approach as it flees from all who come near it : cf Job xxxix. 5.

334 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlviii. 6-9

the wilderness. 7 For, because thou hast trusted in thy works
and in thy treasures, thou also shalt be taken: and Chemosh
shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his princes together.
8 And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall
escape; the valley also shall perish, and Hhe plain shall be
destroyed ; as the Lord hath spoken. 9 Give wings unto Moab,
^that she may fly and get her away: and her cities shall become

1 See Josh. xiii. 9, 17, 21. " Or, /or she must flij : and her cities (&c.

7. thy works. ..treasures. Moab and its population depended almost
entirely on artificial means for their water supply and a wonderful system
of tanks and sluices was necessary before any cultivation was possible^
There may be in this v. a reference to these elaborate irrigation works,
the destruction of which meant the ruin of the country. Works may,
however, mean merchandise or even idols (Dt. iv. 28 &c.) Lxx. read only
one word and translated it strongholds and this text is preferred by many
critics.

Chemosh. ' The obscene dread of Moab's sons ' as Milton {Parad.
Lost, I. 406) named him, was the national god of Moab, and as such
shared in his people's dishonour and apparently in their deportation
(cf Is. xlvi. 1 f ).

8. the valley... the plain. The, valley is the Jordan valley opening
out towards the Dead Sea ; the plain, is the high table-land which forms
the beginning of the great Arabian plateau and which is situated some
4,000 ft. above the Dead Sea. Geographical necessity makes these two
portions of territory go together, as the east bank of the Jordan is
entirely at the mercy of the dwellers in the mountains. ' At the present
time the Arabs of the plateau have winter camps in the valley ; and the
'Adwan tribe cultivate fields upon it.' Gr. A. Smith in Enc. Bib. 3171.

9. wings. To enable her to escape from the enemy. There may be
a reference to the innumerable flocks of birds which find their homes in
the clefts of the mountains of Moab.

that she mayfly. Driver's rendering /w' she would fain fly is to be
preferred.

1 Dr Pusey in his commentary on Ze-phaniah quotes Tristram's picture of ' a ruin-
covered ridge by an immense tank of solid masonry, 140 yards by 110 yards, at
Ziza. From the surface of the water to the edge of the tank was 17 feet 6 inches.
The masonry was simply magnificent. The whole system and artificial sluices were
precisely similar to ancient works for irrigation in India and Ceylon. — Such works
easily explain to us the enormous population, of which the ruined cities give evidence.
Everywhere is some artificial means of retaining the occasional supplies of rain-water.
So long as these precious structures remained in order, cultivation was continuous
and famines remained unknown. — The Islamite invasion left the miserable remnants
of a dense and thriving nation entirely dependent on the neighbouring countries
for their supply of corn : a dependence which must continue till these border lands
are secure from the predatory bands of the East.' [Land of Moab, pp. 183 — 186.)

XLViii. 9-13] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 335

a desolation, without any to dwell therein. 10 Cursed be he that
doeth the work of the Lord hiegligently, and cursed be he that
keepeth back his sword from blood. 1 1 Moab hath been at ease
from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not
been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into
captivity : therefore his taste remaineth in him, and his scent is
not changed. 12 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the
Lord, that I will send unto him them that ^pour oif, and they
shall ^pour him off; and they shall empty his vessels, and break
their ^bottles in pieces. 13 And Moab shall be ashamed of
Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Beth-el their

1 Or, deceitfully ^ Heb. tilt (a, vessel) . ^ Or, jars

10. The work of the Lord is here identified with the shedding of
blood, a sentiment which can hardly have come from Jeremiah though
it suits well the time of the later Hasmoneans. This v. was often on the
lips of Pope Gregory VII (Hildebrand).

negligently. The rendering of the text is better than that of the mg.
deceitfully.

11 — 19. The Moabites trusting in the strength of their material
defences have become like wine left on its lees. But the pride which
their security has engendered will receive a rude and violent blow ; their
land will be made desolate.

>''ll. The metaphor suggests an intensification of national charac-
teristics due to isolation from the peoples around ; in the case of wine
left undisturbed the effect may be good (cf Is. xxv. 6) or bad (cf. Zeph.
i. 17) according to the quality of the lees. The picture of Moab dwelling
in the pride of her isolation and security is a fitting preparation for the
tremendous contrast of her overthrow.

12. pou7- off. Better with mg. tilt. Moab is to be shaken up like
wine changed from vessel to vessel by tilting one over the other and so
roughly will the process be carried out that the jars — adopting the
reading of mg.— will be broken. The meaning of the figure is that the
national institutions of Moab are to come to an end and the people to
go into exile.

13. shall he ashamed. The trust which the Moabites placed in
their god will prove to be illusive. If these words come from Jeremiah
the Moabites had what was to them an obvious and satisfactory retort
— the trust which Judah had in Jehovah would prove equally illusive.
The difference was that owing to the teaching of the prophets the pure
religion of Jehovah survived, whilst the debased cult of Chemosh dis-
appeared.

Beth-el. Cf Am. v. 5. During the time of the Northern Kingdom,
Beth-el, as the sanctuary of the predominant power, must have over-
shadowed Jerusalem itself, and yet it came to nought and was unable

336 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlviii. 13-18

confidence. 14 How say ye, We are mighty men, and valiant
men for the war? 15 Moab is laid waste, and ^they are gone up
into her cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the
slaughter, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
16 The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction
hasteth fast. 17 All ye that are round about him, bemoan him,
and all ye that know his name; say, How is the strong ^staff
broken, the beautiful rod! 18 0 thou daughter that ^dwellest in
Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the

1 Or, her cities are gone up in smoke ^ Or, sceptre ^ Or, art seated

to save Israel. The parallelism with Chemosh almost suggests that Bethel
is here a personal name and it is a remarkable fact that according to
the Elephantine Papyri the Jews living in Egypt worshipped alongside
Yahu (.Jehovah) two deities named 'Asm-bethel and 'Anath-bethel. A
similar custom amongst the Babylonians has deified the great temple
Esagila under the name Esagil-idrimam (see S. A. Cook, A. J. Th. 1915,
p. 370).

14. Cf. viii. 8; Is. xix. 11.

15. The text of lxx. for this v. is markedly different from MT. which
is ungrammatical. Driver suggests a reconstruction of the v. on the lines
of -y. 18 The spoiler of Moab is come up against him, and his &g.

gone up into her cities. This makes good sense but hardly represents
the Heb. The attempt of mg. her cities are gone up ' in smoke ' was
perhaps suggested by Jud. xx. 38.

the King. Cf Is. xliv. 6 &c.

16. Cf li. 33 6; Dt. xxxii. 35 6; Is. xiii. 22 6.

17. How. This is a very common way of beginning a lament ; cf
David's lament over Saul and Jonathan (2 S. i. 19, 27); also Is. xiv. 4,
12; and various passages in Lam. (i. 1, ii. 1, &c.).

staff. The staff or sceptre (mg.) was the symbol of power and au-
thority (Nu. xvii. 17 &c. ; Ps. ex. 2).

rod. Tliis word has almost the same meaning as staff though it is
frequently used of the actual branch of a tree (e.g. i. 11), and often with
a symbolical meaning (cf Zech. xi. 7 &c.).

18. 0 thou daughter .. .come down. Cf Is. xlvii. 1 'Come down...
0 virgin daughter of Babylon.'

Dibon. The modern Dibdn situated some five miles north of the
Arnon and not far from Aroer (see below). It was the place where the
inscription known as the Moabite Stone was discovered in 1868. In
ancient times the great trunk road which ran across the plateau from
north to south went through Dibon, and even in Koman times it was
not without importance as the presence of milestones testifies ; it is now
a deserted ruin and the great Haj or pilgrim road goes further to the east.

thirst. Through the destruction of the irrigation works described
above. The text however is corrupt and the exact meaning lost.

XLViii. 18-23] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 337

spoiler of Moab is come up against thee, he hath destroyed thy
strong holds. 19 0 ^inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and
espy : ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth ; say. What hath
been done? 20 Moab is put to shame; for it is ^broken down:
howl and cry; tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. 21 And
judgement is come upon ^the plain country; upon Holon, and
upon Jahzah, and upon Mephaath ; 22 and upon Dibon, and upon
Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim ; 23 and upon Kiriathaim, and

^ Heb. mhabitress. ' Or, di&mayed ^ See ver. 8.

19. Aroer. Two other cities outside the territory of Moab bore
this name according to OT., one mentioned in Nu. xxxiii. 34 belonged
to Gad, and one in 1 S. xxx. 28 to Judah. The town here referred to
is the modern 'Ara^ir (see Burckhardt, Syria, p. 372) and is situated on
the edge of the Wady Mojib — cf Eusebius' description 'on the eye-brow
of the hill ' — above the Arnon (cf Josh. xii. 2). A fuller description
with a plan is to be found in Arabia Petraea, p. 130, by von Alois Musil.

way. Evidently a reference to the great road upon which fugitives
were fleeing to the Jordan valley from before the invaders from the
desert or the north. In the Moabite Stone there is a record of the re-
building of Aroer and the construction of the road over the Arnon.

20 — 28. The destruction of Moab is utter and complete, not a city
has escaped from the general ruin and the few inhabitants who have
saved their lives must live in the rocky crevices like birds. As vv.
20 b — 24 are in prose they are usually regarded as an insertion.

20. in Arnon. As the reference is to the river a better rendering
would be by the Arnon, that is on its banks and at the fords (cf Ps.
cxxxvii. 1).

21. the plain country. See note on v. 8.

Holon. This name is unknown and appears nowhere else of a city
of Moab. There is mention of a Holon in Josh. xv. 51 but the situation
is different as this place is a Levitical city near to Hebron.

Jahzah. The name of this place is sometimes spelt as here, some-
times, as in Is. xv. 4 Jahaz. It was the scene of the defeat of Sihon
(Nu. xxi. 23). Like many of the other cities of this region it was assigned
to Eeuben and captured by Mesha. The site is uncertain but it was
probably somewhere to the north-east of Dibon.

_ Mephaath. This city like Jahaz was assigned to the Levites (Josh.
xxi. 37) and like it was situated in the territory of Reuben (Josh. xiii. 18).
Eusebius describes it as a 'castle on the edge of the desert.'

22. Dibon. See on v. 18.
Nebo. See on v. 1.

Beth-diblathaim. The name means Jiouse of two figs. The city is
mentioned in Mesha's inscription (/. 30) as having been fortified by him
but its exact situation is unknown, nor does there appear to be any

B 22

338 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlviii. 23-26

upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon ; 24 and upon Kerioth,
and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab,
far or near. 25 The horn of Moab is cut oiF, and his arm is broken,
saith the Lord. 26 Make ye him drunken; for he magnified
himself against the Lord : and Moab shall wallow in his vomit,

other reference to it in OT., unless it is the same as Almon-diblathaim
mentioned in Nu. xxxiii. 46 in connexion with Dibon.

23. Kiriathaim. See on ■y. \.

Beth-gamul. This place is not mentioned elsewhere, nor is its site
at all certain though most scholars agree with Doughty, Arabia Deserta,
I. pp. 1 1 f. and identify it with the modern Umm Jemdl some distance to
the south of Bozrah. For a description of this site see Porter, Giant
Cities of BasJian, p. 69.

Beth-meon. This city is sometimes referred to as Beth-baal-meon
(Josh. xiii. 17 ; andMoabite Stone), sometimes as Baal-meon (Nu. xxxii.
38 ; Ez. XXV. 9). It was evidently a sacred site and the large extent of
its ruins shews that it must have been a city of some importance. Its
modern name is MaHn, and it is situated some five miles to the south-
west of Medeba.

24. Kerioth. This place is sometimes identified with Ar-Moab, and
sometimes with Kir-Moab (cf Is. xv. 1), it is mentioned on the inscrip-
tion of Mesha, and may have been the birth-place of Judas Iscariot
(cf Dr Swete's note on Mk. iii. 19).

Bozrah. This city must not be confused with the Bozrah of xlix.
13 ; Is. Ixiii. 1 ; which was in Edom. It is evidently the Bezer of
Mesha's inscription, where it appears between Dibon and Aroer; cf Dt.
iv. 43; Josh. XX. 8, xxi. 36. In 1 Mace. v. 26 there is mention made
of both Bosora and Bosor ; Dr Oesterley identifies Bozrah with the
former, and somewhat strangely makes the Bezer mentioned above to
be Bosor and therefore not the Bozrah of Moab. The place is usually
identified with Kusr el Besheir, situated a short distance to the south-
west of Dibon and to the north of Aroer, which agrees with the order in
which these towns are cited by Mesha (see above). In later times Bozrah
was the capital of a Roman province, and it had the unhappy distinction
of being the first city of Syria to fall to the Saracens.

25. horn... arm. The horn is a symbol of power especially when
exerted aggressively (Dt. xxxiii. 17 ; Am. vi. 13, &c.); the arm, of might
and authority (xvii. 5).

26. drunken. Cf xxv. 15.

vomit. No details are spared in the description of Moab's helpless-
ness and shame. The reading of lxx., however, avoids this unpleasant
realism, Moab has cla-pped his hands, and this fits in well with the context.
In addition it should be pointed out that the Heb. word for wallow is
elsewhere rendered clap and though it is possible to translate it here as
splash the translation is rather doubtful, and on the whole to make the
slight emendation in MT. demanded by lxx. is the best way of treating
the V.

XLViii. 26-31] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 339

and he also shall be in derision. 27 For was not Israel a derision
unto thee? was he found among thieves? for as often as thou
speakest of him, thou waggest the head. 28 0 ye inhabitants of
Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock ; and be like the
dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth. 29 ^ We
have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud ; his lofti-
ness, and his pride, and his arrogancy, and the haughtiness of
his heart. 30 I know his wrath, saith the Lord, that it is nought ;
his boastings have wrought nothing. 31 ^Therefore will I howl
for Moab ; yea, I will cry out for all Moab : for the men of Kir-

1 See Is. xvi. 6. 2 ggg jg_ ^v. 5, xvi. 7, 11.

27. among thieves. Cf, ii. 26.

waggest the head. A common gesture of mockery (Ps. Ixiv, 8), but
one which must always have a peculiar and tragic interest for Christian
people (cf. Mk. xv. 29).

28. This V. is in metre, and as it is a suitable continuation of v. 25,
it seems probable that vv. 26 f. come from the hands of a supplementer.

dme. Cf. Cant. ii. 14. Tristram says that 'the wild rock-pigeon
invariably selects. . .deep ravines for its nesting and roosting place.' Nat.
Hist, of Bib. pp. 21 if. The last part of the v. is corrupt, though the
meaning is easy to gather.

29 — 39. The pride of Moab and the ruin which has come upon it.
This section is composed mainly of extracts from an earlier prophecy,
the substance of which is also contained in Is. xv. — xvi., unless indeed
those chh. are the original prophecy itself. Another example of the
incorporation of an earlier prophecy is found in the oracle on Edom
(xhx. 7—27).

29 f. These m. are but Is. xvi. 6 in an expanded form.

29. the pride of Moab. The people of Moab were conspicuous for
their pride : cf. *;. 42 ; Is. xxv. 11 ; Zeph. ii. 10 ; on each of these oc-
casions pride is turned into shame and contempt.

31. This V. is similar to Is. xvi. 7 except that in the latter Moab
is bidden to weep for Moab (cf. v. 9). It is somewhat unusual to find
the prophets sympathising with the heathen nations whom they con-
demn, in spite of Hashi's comment that ' the prophets of Israel differ
from heathen prophets... in that they lay to heart the distresses which
they announce to the nations ' (on Is. xv. 5).

men of Kir-heres. For men we should read raisin-cakes as in Is.
xvi. 7, the change required being very slight in tlie original. This
alteration is almost certain, as not only were raisin-cakes as Dr Wade
says ' favourite dainties (Cant. ii. 5), but were also presented as offerings
to the national god (Chemosh).' Kir-heres (in Is. Kir-hareseth) is

1 Viz.: ^B'K'N for ^L^'JX.

22—2

340 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlviii. 31-34

heres shall they mourn. 32 With more than the weeping of
Jazer will I weep for thee, ^O vine of Sibmah: thy branches
passed over the sea, they reached even to the sea of Jazer : upon
thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage the spoiler is fallen.
33 ^And gladness and joy is taken away, from the fruitful field
and from the land of Moab ; and I have caused wine to cease from
the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; the shouting
shall be no shouting. 34 ^From the cry of Heshbon even unto
Elealeh, even unto Jahaz have they uttered their voice, from
Zoar even unto Horonaim, ^to Eglath-shelishiyah : for the waters

1 See Is. xvi. 8, 9. ' ^ gee Is. xvi. 10.

^ See Is. XV. 4, &c. ■* Or, as an heifer of three years old

usually identified with Kir of Moab (Is. xv. 1), the modern Kerak
which is situated eight miles east of the Dead Sea and some eighteen
south of the Arnon (see the description in PEFQS. 1898, pp. 93 fF.)

32. This V. is borrowed from Is. xvi. 8 f. with slight alterations.
more than. lxx. omits, probably correctly (cf. Is. xvi. 9).

Jazer. The site of this place is doubtful though most scholars accept
the modern Khirhet Sar which is ten miles north of Heshbon.

vine of Sibmah. ' The flowing Dale of Sibma clad with vines ' as
Milton called it {Par. Lost, i. 410). Sibmah is the modern Sumia, a
little to the west of Heshbon, and though the vine is said no longer to
be cultivated there, the ruins contain the remains of wine-presses and
vineyard towers.

the sea. The products of the vine of Sibmah are likened to the vine
itself spreading over the adjacent country as far west as the Dead Sea,
as far north as Jazer, and according to Is. xvi. 8 out to the east into
the desert. The second mention of the sea of (Jazer) is a mistake and
should be omitted.

spoiler. Read with Is. xvi. 9 battle-shout (cf. next v.).

33. This V. is based on Is. xvi. 10.

with shouting. Read with treading as Is. xvi. 10.

shouting shall be no shouting. The Heb. word is used of both the
shout of the grape gatherers (xxv. 30; Is. xvi. 10) and of the cry of
battle (li. 14); in this case the one is to become the substitute for the
other.

34. There is here a sudden introduction in a shortened form of
Is. XV. 4 ff. The opening of the v. presents an obvious case for emen-
dation and Giesebrecht suggests How criest thou, 0 Heshbon and Elealeh
and Duhm Crying are Heshbon &c.

Heshbon. See on v. 2. _

Elealeh. This town, the modern el-^Al, was situated just outside
Heshbon.

Jahaz. See on v. 32.

Zoar... Horonaim. See on -y. 3.

XLViii. 34-40] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 341

of Nimrim also shall become ^desolate. 35 Moreover I will cause
to cease in Moab, saith the Lord, him that ofFereth in the high
place, and him that burnetii incense to his gods. 36 Therefore
mine heart soundeth for Moab like pipes, and mine heart soundeth
like pipes for the men of Kir-heres: therefore the abundance
that he hath gotten is perished. 37 For every head is bald, and
every beard clipped : upon all the hands are cuttings, and upon
the loins sackcloth. 38 On all the housetops of Moab and in the
streets thereof there is lamentation every where: for I have
broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the Lord.
39 How is it broken down ! ^how do they howl ! how hath Moab
turned the back with shame ! so shall Moab become a derision
and a dismaying to all that are round about him. 40 For thus
saith the Lord : Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread

1 Heb. desolations. ^ Or, howl ye!

Eglath-shelishiyah. Mg. as an heifer of three years old (so LXX.,
Vulg.). The reference, however, is probably to some town known as the
third Eglath, for so the Heb. can be translated. Its identity has not
been established (see further Dr Wade on Is. xv. 5).

the waters of Nimrim. Perhaps the Wady Numere at the south-
east end of the Dead Sea.

35. Cf Is. XV. 2, xvi. 12.

him that offereth in. lxx. by a slight change in MT. renders him that
goeth up to; in any case the rendering of RV. does not exactly represent
the original, which reads him that bringetk up to, though the meaning
is much the same.

36. pipes. Is. xvi. 1 1 reads a harp. The connexion between music
and mourning is evidently in the prophet's mind.

the abundance &c. Cf. Is. xv. 7.

37. Cf Is. XV. 2 f and for the mourning customs see note on xvi. 6
above.

38. vessel. See on xxii. 28.

40 — 47. The extent of the disaster which is to overtake Moab is
revealed in fuller detail.

40 f The text of lxx. for these v-v. is very much shorter and reads
simply For thus saith the Lorb: Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds
are surprised. The rest of MT. is apparently borrowed from the oracle
on Edom (xlix. 22), Moabitish names being substituted for Edomite.

40. eagle. Cf xlix. 22. This figure is a favourite description of a
conqueror. It is used of Nebuchadrezzar (Ez. xvii. 3, 7) ; of Cyrus (Is. xlvi.
11) ; and often of the swift approach of unnamed invaders (Hos. viii. 1 ;
Hab. i. 8 : Dt. xxviii. 49). Payne Smith compares Hor. Odes, iv.
iv. 1.

342 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlviii. 40-46

out his wings against Moab. 41 ^Kerioth is taken, and the strong
holds are surprised, and the heart of the mighty men of Moab
at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
42 And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because
he hath magnified liimself against the Lord. 43 ^Fear, and the
pit, and the snare, are upon thee, 0 inhabitant of Moab, saith
the Lord. 44 He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit ;
and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare :
for I will bring upon her, even upon Moab, the year of their
visitation, saith the Lord. 45 ^They that fled stand without
strength under the shadow of Heshbon: ^for a fire is gone forth
out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and hath
devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the
tumultuous ones. 46 Woe unto thee, 0 Moab! the people of
Chemosh is undone: for thy sons are taken away captive, and

1 Or, The cities are taken 2 gee Is. xxiv. 17, 18.

3 Or, Fleeing because of the force they stand under

4 Or, but See Num. xxi. 28, 29.

41. Kerioth. See above on v. 24. It is probable, however, in view
of the parallelism that Kerioth is not here to be taken as a proper" noun
and that the translation of mg. should be adopted, viz. the cities.

42. Moab... people. After the exile Moab practically disappeared.

43. 44 a. The substance of these vv. is contained in Is. xxiv. 17f.
though without any special reference to Moab.

43. Fear... 2)it... snare. These three words in Heb. have a very
similar sound : jmhad, ivapahath, wdpdh.

44. For the latter half of this v. cf. xi. 23, xxiii. 12.

45 — 47. These vv. are not found in lxx. which here resumes at
the V. numbered in the Heb. xxv. 15.

45. They tliat fled... Heshbon. A very dramatic representation of
the exhaustion and straits of the fugitives who have fled to the very
' starting-point of the conflagration which is to destroy Moab ' (Driver).
For Heshbon see on v. 2.

a fire is gone forth &c. The rest of the v. and also that which follows
is taken from Nu, xxi. 28 f, xxiv. 17.

tumultuous ones. Lit. sons of tumult: cf sons of might (1 K. xiv.
52) and sons of oil (Zech. iv. 14). H. G. Mitchell says of this latter
expression ' This expression belongs to a class of orientalisms frequent
in the Bible. . . .In these cases the person or thing in question is conceived
as an example of the state or quality denoted by the dependent noun.'
Moab is often connected with tumult in OT. : see Am. ii. 2 ; Hos. x. 14.

46. thy sons are taken away. In Nu. xxi. 29 the Moabites are
described as being sons and daughters of Chemosh who himself has given
them into captivity.

XLVIIL 46-XLix. i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 343

thy daughters into captivity. 47 Yet will I ^ bring again the
captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the Lord. Thus far
is the judgement of Moab.

1 Or, return to

47. in the latter days. ' Whenever it is said in the latter days it
is meant the days of the Messiah.' Kimchi on Is. ii. 2. See Driver's
note on Gen. xlix. 1.

Thus far. This note is evidently the work of a compiler.

Chapter XLIX. 1—6 (=lxx. XXX. 1—5).
The Prophecy against Ammon.

The Ammonites had taken advantage of the misfortunes of Israel to widen
their borders by the inclusion within them of the territories belonging to Gad.
The prophet reproves them and foretells the disasters which are to overtake
them. The events referred to in this prophecy are probably those in connexion
with the deportation of 734 B.C. when Tiglath-Pileser III overran the Bast Jordan
region, and Gad and some of the other ti-ibes were carried away to Assyria, cf.
Am. i. 13; Zeph. ii. 8 — 11. The Ammonites seem always to have carried on a
very crooked policy; in the times of Jeremiah they appear (a) as the aUies of
Babylon (2 K. xxiv. 2); (&) leagued against Babylon (Jer. xxvii. 3); (c) offering
a refuge to the fugitive Jews (Jer. xl. 14); (d) plotting to murder Gedaliah
(Jer. xl. 14). In Ez. xxv. 1 — 7 there is a description of the exultation of the
Ammonites over the fall of Jerusalem, and in xxi. 28 f. a further description of
the punishment coming upon them.

The genuineness of the section is denied by those scholars who look with
suspicion on all the prophecies against the nations, as also by Giesebrecht. The
arguments of the latter lie mainly against the statement in v. 2 b that Israel was
' to possess them that possessed him ' (i.e. Ammon), a statement which seems
to contradict xxv. where Israel and Ammon are to be in exile together ; and
the promise of restoration in i\ 6. There are I'easons, however, for regarding
these vv. as later additions, in which case the rest of the oracle is unaflFected by
his arguments.

XLIX. 1 Of the children of Ammon. Thus saith the Lord :
Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth ^Malcam

^ Or, their king

XLIX. 1. t/ie children of Ammon. For further particulars see
Enc. Bib. 141 if.

no heir. Even if Gad and Reuben have been taken into exile the
right of inheritance belongs to the other tribes of Israel, or faiHng them
to Judah.

Malcam. The mg. gives as the translation of this their king-, it

344 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlix.

1-3

^possess Gad, and his people dwell in the cities thereof? 2 There-
fore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will cause an
alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the children of
Ammon ; and it shall become a desolate -heap, and her daughters
shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel ^possess them that
did ^possess him, saith the Lord. 3 Howl, 0 Heshbon, for Ai is
spoiled ; cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth :
lament, and run to and fro among the fences; for ^Malcam shall

1 Or, inherit ^ See cb. xxx. 18. ^ Or, their king

should probably be looked upon as a proper name however but with a
slightly different pointing so as to read Milcom, the national deity of
Ammon; this reading agrees with lxx., Syr., Vulg. and of. v. 3.

2. Rabbah. This city was apparently the only place of any size in
Ammon : cf. Am. i. 14 ; Ez. xxv. 5 ; xxi. 20. Ptolemy II Philadelphus
re-named it Philadelphia after himself, and it is now called 'Amman.
The situation of the modern town is on the river Jabbok some twenty-
three miles east of Jordan.

heap. See on xxx. 18.

burned with fire. Most of the cases of the burning of captives occur
in the East Jordan territory ; cf xlviii. 45 (=Nu. xxi. 28) ; 2 S. xii. 31 ;
Am. ii. 1.

shall Israel &c. As was pointed out above the prophet in xxv. seems
to look upon both Ammon and Israel as destined for exile at the same
time. The v. probably comes from a supplementer.

3, Howl, 0 Heshbon &c. The first part of this v. contains two
difficulties. To take the one which has the easier solution first, no such
Ammonite town as Ai is known to exist ; this difficulty, if it is one, for
the mere fact of our lack of knowledge of such a city by no means proves
that it was non-existent, can be met by making a small emendation in
the original and reading the Heb. for the city. The other difficulty is
that Heshbon belongs, not to Ammon, but to Moab. But Heshbon is
only about fourteen miles from Rabbath Ammon in a north-easterly
direction (see on xlviii. 2) and there is no reason why Heshbon should
not fear — especially if the tide of invasion first struck Ammon — for
national boundaries were no protection against a powerful foe in ancient
warfare. Those critics who find the text suspicious resort to the usual
though very subjective method of emendation; Cornill proposes to read
children of Ammon^ which, whilst it gives a very good sense, is not easy
to imagine as a possible original of which Heshbon is the corruption ;
Dulim has a more attractive suggestion, and would read palaces pJOiN
armon. This suits well the mention of Rabbah in the previous v. for
it was noted for its palaces (Am. i. 14 ; Ez. xxv. 5), and the only

1 In SBOT. Cornill proposed \)JDV for inKTl, which is a not unlikely emenda-
tion ; the fuller form \\12V ''32 he thinks more desirable on metrical grounds.

XLix. 3-6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 345

go into captivity, his priests and his princes together. 4 ^Vhere-
fore gloriest thou in the valleys, thy flowing valley, O backsliding
daughter? that trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come
unto me? 5 Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord,
the Lord of hosts, from all that are round about thee ; and ye
shall be driven out every man right forth, and there shall be
none to gather up him that wandereth. 6 But afterward I will
bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith the
Lord.

1 Or, Wherefore gloriest thou in the vallerjs ? thy valley floweth away

objection to it, not one of a serious nature, is on the score of gender,
palace being masculine and the verb Howl in the feminine.

4. thy flowing valley. These words may be due to a scribe copying
out the previous words a second time by mistake. The phrase is in any
case a strange one, though it is possible to refer it to one of the well-
watered valleys of Rabbah 'the city of waters' (2 _S. xii. 27). Buhl, Pal.
p. 260, suggests that it is the Nalir 'Ammon which is a stream of con-
siderable size and which flows from the site of Rabbah.

hachsliding. This epithet though well applied to Ephraim (xxxi. 22)
is hardly suited to the heathen Ammonites ; emend with Duhm to ar-
rogant (cf Is. xlvii. 7 — 10). At the same time as the children of Ammon
were descended from Abraham they might reasonably have been ex-
pected to preserve the faith of their forefather. _ .^

treasures. The wealth of the Ammonites was mainly collected by
plundering expeditions.

5. There is no clue throughout the whole prophecy, as Giesebrecht
points out, to the people who are to descend upon the Ammonites.

every man right forth. Each man will think only of his own safety
and will make no attempt to rally the fugitives.

6. The prophecy ends with a message of comfort, but as it is missing
from LXX. there is good reason for supposing that it is a later addition.
The Ammonites survived for many centuries, they are mentioned by
Justin in his dialogue with Trypho_, but by the time of Origen they
had disappeared (Comment, on Job i.).

Chapter XLIX. 7—22 (=lxx. XXIX. 8—23).
The Prophecy against Edom.

The relationship between Israel and Edom was considered to be very close
as they were descended from the twin sons of Isaac— Jacob and Esau — whereas
Ammon and Moab could only claim cousinship for their ancestors. This close-
ness of origin did not, however, promote unity between the peoples, in spite of
the command of Dt. xxiii. 7 ' Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy

346 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xLix. 7, 8

brother,' and no nation seems to have taken such delight in the fall of Jerusalem
as the offspring of Esau (cf. Ps. cxxxvii. 7 fcc^) who according to a late tradition
actually set the temple on fire (1 Bsdr. iv. 45, 50). The people of Judah suffered
greatly in later times from the attemj)ts of the Edomites to establish themselves
in the south of Palestine (cf Mai. i. 2 — 5), when their own territory was being
overrun by the Nabataeans^, and a perpetual feud arose which did not end until
after the defeat of Edom by Judas Maccabaeus (1 Mace. v. 65) and their final
subdual by John Hyrcanus ^^Joseph. Ant. xiir. ix. 1). In the Apocryphal writings
there are many expressions of the loathing which the sons of Jacob felt for
their brethren : see the extracts in Sanday and Headlam, Romans, p. 247.

The passage has several vv. in common with the prophecy of Obadiah:
V. 7 = 0b. 8; vv. 9— 10a=0b. 5f.; vv. 14— 16 = 0b. 1—4. For a detailed ex-
amination of these two passages see Brewei-'s long note in ICG. on Ohadiah,
pp. 33 fi". ; the conclusion that he comes to is that both passages are based on
an older oracle, and that this oracle is better pi-eserved in Jeremiah than in
Obadiah. Pusey, however, thought that Jeremiah was the later, and that he
' interwove ' into his own prophecy vo. derived from the earlier work of Obadiah
{Minor Prophets, iii. pp. 278 ff.); Nowack, Die kleinen Proph. pp. 178 f, also
looks upon Jeremiah's as the later edition. The various theories as to the unity
of Obadiah and its date together with its relation to Jeremiah will be found col-
lected by Brewer, op. cit. p. 5, and by G. A. Smith, Twelve Prophets, 11. pp. 165 flf.

(a) The call to flight. 7—12.

(&) The desolation of Edom. 13—22.

7 Of Edom. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Is wisdom no
more m Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their
wisdom vanished? 8 Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, 0 inhabi-
tants of Dedan ; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him,

7 — 12. The calamity coming upon Edom is so great that in flight
alone lies any chance of safety.

7. Is wisdom no more in Teman ? Jeremiah is fond of short
pointed questions such as this at the opening of his prophecies: cf. ii.
14 ' Is Israel a servant ?,' xiv. 19, &c. The Edomites had apparently
a great reputation for wisdom (cf. Ob. 8 ; Bar. iii. 22 f.) and Job's friend
Eliphaz the Temanite was noted as a sage (Job ii. 11). T'ewawwas one
of the clans or tribal divisions of Edom (Gen. xxxvi. 11, 15), and lay
to the north of the Edomite territory ; it is, however, sometimes used
as a synonym for the whole country (Ob. 8; Hab. iii. 3).

8. Dedan. See on xxv. 23. Keil thinks that caravans were going
through Edom at the time of the invasion.

Esau. For Esau as a synonym of Edom see Gen. xxv. 30, xxxvi. 1.

1 It is not quite certain that these references are to be connected with the Chaldean
invasion (see S. A. Cook in Oxford Apoc. i. p. 13).

* Died. Sic. XIX. 94 f.; and see Kennett in Cambridge Bib, Essays, p. 117.

XLix. 8, 3] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 347

the time that I shall visit him. 9 If grapegatherers came to thee,
^ would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night,
would they not destroy till they had enough? 10 But I have
made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall
not be able to hide himself : his seed is spoiled, and his brethren,
and his neighbours, and he is not. 11 Leave thy fatherless
children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust
in me. 12 For thus saith the Lord: Behold, they ^to whom it
pertained not to drink of the cup shall assuredly drink ; and art
thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go
unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink. 13 For I have sworn
by myself, saith the Lord, that Bozrah shall become an astonish-

^ Or, tlierj will leave no gleaning grapes ; if thieves by night, they will destroy till
they have enougli. For &c. See Obad. 5. - Or, whose judgement was not

To the later Jews JiJsau became the symbol of the heathen world : see
Weber, Jud. Theol. p. 401.

9. The destruction of Edom is to be complete. The imagery under
which this destruction is put forward is taken from the peaceful and
legitimate occupation of the vinedresser, and the terrifying though not
infrequent visit of the midnight robber. The v. is much the same as
Ob. 5 save that the two figures appear in the reverse order, and in that
book the application is made in a slightly different manner, though
both represent the methods of the enemy as absolutely pitiless. The
figure of gleaning grapes is used in Is. xvii. 6, xxiv. 13 to comfort
Israel.

10. hare. Mount Seir, the great mountain fastness of Edom, was
well wooded, but its protection will be in vain.

Ms seed &c. Cornill shortens the second part of the v. for metrical
reasons and reads simply he is spoiled and he is not. The rest of the v.
may represent the bitter hatred of later years (see Introd. to the
section).

11. In this v. the ordinary methods of waging war in the past,
even amongst the Israelites themselves, are put aside as barbarous,
women and innocent children are no longer to be regarded as fit objects
foT the Divine vengeance, as exercised through the persons of the
invaders, to slake itself upon. Such a sentiment is well worthy of the
mind of Jeremiah.

12. cup. Cf. XXV. Ib^.-, Is. lii. 1 fi".

13 — 22. A further description of the ruin of Bozrah and the cities
of Edom against whom the nations are summoned to fight.

13. Bozrah. This city is usually identified with Busaireh 'in
the district of Jebal' some twenty miles south-east of the Dead Sea;
R. A. S. Macalister, however, thinks that the site has been entirely
lost.

348 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlix. 13-17

ment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse ; and all the cities thereof
shall be perpetual wastes. 14 ^I have heard tidings from the
Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying,
Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and rise up
to the battle. 15 For, behold, I have made thee small among
the nations, and despised among men. 16 As for thy terrible-
ness, the pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, 0 thou that
dwellest in the clefts of ^the rock, that boldest the height of the
hill : though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle,
I will bring thee down from thence, saitli the Lord. 17 And
Edom shall become an astonishment : every one that passeth by
it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof.

1 See Obad. 1—4. - Or, Sela See 2 Kings xiv. 7.

14 — 16. These vv. are similar to Ob. 1 — 4.

14. an ambassador. 'The ambassador is any agent, visible or
invisible, sent by God. Human powers who wish to stir up war, send
human messengers. All things stand at Ggd's command, and whatsoever
or whomsoever He employs, is a messenger from Him.' Pusey on Ob. 1.

15. Edom finally lost its independence towards the close of the
second century B.C. when it was conquered by John Hyrcanus and
became part of Judah. In the persons of the Herods, however, members
of the conquered race succeeded in obtaining power over the conquerors.
According to Josephus the Edomites played a leading part in the
rebellion against Rome {Bell. Jud. iv., v. and vi.).

16. terribleness. The Heb. for this word, which is not found in
the passage in Ob. nor elsewhere, is probably corrupt. It may represent
the exclamation of horror with which the fate of Edom is greeted by
those who saw it.

the rock. Mg. Sela. Some scholars think that Sela and Petra were
the same place though the identification is doubtful (see Buhl, Gesch.
der Edomiter, pp. 34 f ) and in one passage impossible (cf. Moore on
Jud. i. 36). The capital of Edom lay in the midst of a maze of hills
and was accessible only by means of a narrow gorge. It was famous
for its rock-dwellings many of which were simply carved out of the
mountain side. No doubt some of them came from the time of the
Nabataeans. The wonders of Petra aroused the admiration of ancient
writers on many occasions, Strabo (xvi. iv. 21) for example says that
it 'lies in a spot precij)itous and abrupt without, but within possessed
of abundant fountains for watering and horticulture'; cf Pliny, Nat.
Hist. VI. 28, and for a modern description G. A. Smith, Twelve Prophets,
n. p. 179.

as the eagle. See on iv. 13; and cf Enoch xcvi. 2 'higher than
vultures shall be your nest'; Job xxxix. 27 f ; Prov. xxiii. 5.

17. hiss. In scorn ; cf Job xxvii. 23 ; and see xix. 8.

XLix. 18-22] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 349

18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neigh-
bour cities thereof, saith the Lord, no man shall dwell there,
neither shall any son of man sojourn therein. 19 Behold, he
shall come up like a lion from the ^ pride of Jordan -against the
strong habitation: ^but I will suddenly make him run away
from her ; and whoso is chosen, him will I appoint over her : for
who is like me ? and who will appoint me a time ? and who is the
shepherd that will stand before me? 20 Therefore hear ye the
counsel of the Lord, that he hath taken against Edom ; and his
purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of
Teman: Surely *they shall drag them away, even the little ones
of the flock; surely he shall make their ^habitation ^desolate
with them. 21 The earth trembleth at the noise of their fall;
there is a cry, the noise whereof is heard in the Red Sea. 22 Be-

1 Or, swelling ^ Or, unto the permanent pastures »

3 Or, for I will suddenly drive them away

* Or, the little ones of the flock shall drag them away

^ Or, pastures ^ Or, astonished at them

18. cities. Admah and Zeboim (Dt. xxix. 23; cf. Gen. x. 19,
xiv. 2, 8).

no man shall dwell there. Petra was unknown to the Arabs and the
Crusaders and was only re-discovered in the last century. The whole
V. recurs in 1. 40 in reference to Babylon.

19 — 21. These vv. are similarly used with some necessary adapta-
tions in the prophecy on Babylon (1. 44 — 46),

19. lio7i. Of. iv. 7 ; and Zech. xi. 3.
pride of Jordan. See on xii. 5.

strong habitation. Better with mg. permanent or enduring pastures,
the metaphor of the lion is still maintained. Cornill suggests the
translation j^c^stiire of sheep which makes it clearer, and he continues
so will I suddenly drive them away, and their choice rams will 1 visit.

appoint me a time. Cf. Job ix. 19.

shepherd. Though a shepherd might defend his flock against a lion,
as did David (1 S. xvii. 34 f ) yet no ruler could save his people from
tho hand of Jehovah.

20. Teman. See on v. 7.

they shall drag... flock. Cf xv. 3.

their habitation. Which they had thought would last for ever; cf.
Ps. xhx. 11.

21. The earth trembleth. It is hard to know why the earth should
tremble at the fall of a comparatively unimportant nation like Edom
unless indeed it were accompanied by circumstances of peculiar horror.

the Red Sea. Heb. sea of reeds. W. Max Miiller, As. u. Eur. pp.
42 f , thinks that the phrase originally referred to the upper end of the

350 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlix. .., .3

hold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his
wings against Bozrah : and the heart of the mighty men of Edom
at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.

Gulf of Suez; here the eastern arm of the Red Sea, the Aelanitic Gulf
or Gulf of Akaba is evidently meant; cf Nu. xxi. 4; 1 K. ix. 26.

22, Cf xlviii. 40 f Dean Stanley elaborated this figure of the
eagle and says that Nebuchadrezzar's approach 'seemed to those who
witnessed it like the rising of a mighty eagle, spreading out his vast
wings, feathered with the innumerable colours of the variegated masses
which composed the Chaldean host.' Tlie Jewish Church, 11. p. 451.

Chapter XLIX. 23—27 (=lxx. XXX. 12—16).
The Prophecy against Damascus.

This section has been rejected by many scholars, including even Cornill,
mainly on account of the importance assigned to Hamath and Arpad. There
are difficulties and corruptions in the text, it is true, and probably additions
have been made to it, but there does not seem to be any convincing reason for
rejecting the whole proijhecy.

Damascus is still the most considerable city in Syria and has perhaps the
longest record of any city in the world for prosperity and importance. This is
no doubt owing to its fertile situation in the midst of a wide plain raised some
2300 feet above the sea-level, protected on all sides by mountains and watered
by numerous rivers. So great are its fertility and beauty that it has been called
the 'earthly Paradise' of the Arab world 1. At the same time the site of
Damascus had serious defects from a military point of view as the surrounding
hills gave undue advantages to an attacking force, and after its capture by
Tiglath-Pileser in 732 b.c. the city seems to have lapsed into comparative in-
significance for some long period. Apart from this passage, there is no mention
of Damascus in the prophecies of the exile, except in Ez. xxvii. 18, xlvii. 16 ff. —
all of them incidental, and it was not until the Persian period that its prosperity
was revived (cf. Strabo, xvi. ii. 20; Joseph. Ant. xi. ii. 2).

23 Of Damascus. Hamath is ashamed, and Arpad ; for they

23. Hamath... Arpad. These two towns appear frequently together
in Is. (x. 9, xxxvi. 19, &c.), also in Assyrian inscriptions (as Amattu
&nd Arpaddu). They were situated respectively some 115 and 210
miles north of Damascus. Hamath was on the Orontes and had been
an important stronghold of the Hittites whose sculptures are still found

1 There is a Muhammedan legend that the prophet one day stood gazing down
on the city from an adjacent mountain and then turned away saying ' There is but
one paradise for man and mine is fixed elsewhere. '

XLix. .3-27] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 351

have heard evil tidings, they are melted away: there is ^sorrow
on the sea; it cannot be quiet. 24 Damascus is waxed feeble,
she turneth herself to flee, and trembling hath seized on her:
anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in
travail. 25 How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of
my joy? 26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets,
and all the men of war shall be brought to silence in that day,
saith the Lord of hosts. 27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall
of Damascus, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

1 Or, care

there; in the Greek period it was known as Epiphaneia and it is now
called Hamah. The modern name of Arpad is Tell-Erpad ten miles
north of Aleppo.

melted away. Cf. Ez. vii. 17 (Heb.).

sorrow on the sea. The mention of sea in connexion with these
inland cities is very strange, possibly we should read like the sea (cf. Is.
Ivii. 20), or with Cornill by a slight emendation they are melted away
there from terror. The mg. rendering care or anxiety is better than
sorrow.

25. not forsaken. The present text contradicts both the next
sentence and also the requirements of the context. Head with Duhm
Woe to her^. The lament is evidently uttered by one of the citizens of
the suffering city.

26. This V. is borrowed from 1. 30, hence the unsuitable therefore.

27. This V. is derived from a combination of Am. i. 4 and 14.
Ben-hadad. ^Jerome and some modern scholars think that the name

Ben-hadad, like that of Pharaob, was not a personal name but a title ;
it was borne by several kings of Syria. Tbe meaning son of Hadad
evidently had a religious significance". See however Enc. Bib. p. 531
where it is stated that the original of the name was Bir-idri, i.e. Bir
is my glory.

Chapter XLIX. 28—33 (=lxx. XXX. 6—11).
The Prophecy against Kedar\

This passage has also been rejected by Coruill. There seems however no
good reason for denying the Jei'emianic authorship of the whole whilst at the

^ The change required in the Heb. for this rendering is not great, H? ""iN being
substituted for N"? "^'iil.

" See Frazer, Adonis &c. i. p. 15 and references there given.

^ Lxx. paai.\ia(xri ttjs aiiXTJs, the queen of the palace, which is added to Kedar, merely

represents a different pointing of tbe Heb. for kingdoms of Hazor : I^C ^3?^? in-
stead of ni^n nb'pDD'?.

352 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlix. 28-30

same time recognising the fact that it contains later insertions. The mention
of Arab tribes in xxv. 23 naturally leads one to expect an oracle against them,
and the appearance of Nebuchadrezzar in v. 30 suggests that the section, or
part of it, is pre-exilic.

Dr Streane has pointed out that the passage may be divided into two parts,
'which closely correspond in length, sense, and structure. Each consists of
three verses, and the three consecutive thoughts in each are (i) a summons to
the enemy to attack, (ii) a promise of booty, (iii) an intimation that safety would
be procured only by flight.'

28 Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebu-
chadrezzar king of Babylon smote.

Thus saith the Lord: Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil
the children of the east. 29 Their tents and their flocks shall
they take ; they shall carry away for themselves their curtains,
and all their vessels, and their camels : and they shall cry unto
them, Terror on every side. 30 Flee ye, wander far ofi", dwell
deep, 0 ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith the Lord ; for Nebuchad-

28. Kedar. Kedar was an Ishmaelite tribe (Gen. xxv. 13) noted
for its flocks {v. 29) and for the skill of its archers (Is. xxi. 16 f'.). In
ii. 10 Kedar is taken as a typical representative of the east and as
dwelling far away in the desert. The men of Kedar are mentioned in
inscriptions as the Kidrai, and by Pliny, Nat. Hist. v. 65 as the Cedrei.
In later times they became the type of 'all the wild tribes of the desert
who were naturally disliked by the peace-loving Judaeans' {Enc. Bib.
2654) ; the beginning of this process can be seen in Ps. cxx. 5. The
Rabbinic writers speak of Arabic as the language of Kedar (n~ip pt^^),
making Kedar equivalent to the whole of Arabia.

kingdoms of Hazor. According to S. A. Cook, Enc. Bib. 1978 this
'is a collective term for the region of the settled Arabs in the S. or E.
of Palestine' (cf. xxv. 34; Is. xlii. 11). The corresponding Arabic word
hddir is used in a similar way, settled Arabs being called Hadarjeh as
distinguished from the Wabarijeh who are nomadic ^

children of the east. The Arab tribes in the east'of Palestine, the
term seems to be used with considerable latitude; cf Jud. viii. 10;
Jobi. 3; 1 K. iv. 30.

29. their curtains. See on iv. 20.
Terror on every side. Cf vi. 25, xx. 3 f &c.

30. dwell deep. The same advice is given to the Edomites {v. 8),
and with better application to those living in a mountainous country
than to the Bedouin of the desert.

1 Noldeke quotes a poem written shortly before the time of Muhammed which
divides the Arabs into 'the nomadic' and 'the settled.' By the latter class must
be understood ' the inhabitants of small oases, who retained, on the whole, the
customs of the Bedouins, and differed widely from the people of the towns.' Enc.
Bib. 275.

XLix. 30-34] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 353

rezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel against you, and hath
conceived a purpose against you. 31 Arise, get you up unto a
nation that is at ease, that dwelleth without care, saith the Lord ;
which have neither gates nor bars, which dwell alone. 32 And
their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle
a spoil: and I will scatter unto all winds them that have the
corners of their hair polled ; and I will bring their calamity from
every side of them, saith the Lord. 33 And Hazor shall be a
dwelling place of jackals, a desolation for ever : no man shall
dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn therein.

31 f. These -yv. are evidently influenced by Ez. xxxviii. 11; cf. also
Jud. xviii. 7, 10; Mic. vii. 14; Zech. ii. 4, 9.

32. corners... polled. See on ix. 26.

33. Cf. ix. 11, X. 22.

Chapter XLIX. 34—39 (=lxx. XXV. 14— XXVI. 1).
The Prophecy against Elam.

This prophecy differs from the others in being dated in the beginning of the
reign of Zedekiah ; this is a sign of its authenticity, for a supplementer would
have been careful to make its date agree with that of the vision of the cup (cf
XXV. 1, 25). The reign of Zedekiah was in itself a much more probable time for
Jeremiah to utter a prophecy against Elam, as before the first deportation the
men of Judah could have had little contact with the Elamites. Those critics
who reject the Jeremianic authorship of the passage are not unnaturally at
variance over the exact date to which to assign it, though several would place
it in the Persian period regarding it as being written in view of the victorious
approach of Alexander the Great (Schmidt, Enc. Bib. 2391).

The country of the Elamites was situated to the east of the southern portion
of Babylon, corresponding approximately to the Susiana and Elymais of the
Greeks, and to the country now known as Chuzistan. It is often mentioned in
the cuneiform inscriptions as Elamtu and its history, in close connexion vnth
that of Babylon and Assyi'ia, goes back to the earliest times. The independence
of Elam was lost to the Assyrians under Asshurbauijial, and by the time of the
Median incursion they were too weak to defend themselves (see Canon Johns,
Ancient Assyria, pp. 143 8"., 151). For further details see Driver's note on
Gen. X. 22.

34 The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet
concerning Elam in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king
B. 23

354 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [xlix. 34-39

of Judah, saying, 35 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold, I
will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. 36 And
upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of
heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds ; and there
shall be no nation whither ^the outcasts of Elam shall not come.
37 And I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies,
and before them that seek their life : and I will bring evil upon
them, even my fierce anger, saith the Lord ; and I will send the
sword after them, till I have consumed them : 38 and I will set
my throne in Elam, and will destroy from thence king and
princes, saith the Lord. 39 But it shall come to pass in the
latter days, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith
the Lord.

1 Another reading is, the everlasting outcasts.

35. bow. The Elamites were famed for their archery (Is. xxii. 6),
this gives all the more point to the metaphor which is also appHed to
Israel by Hosea (i. 5). For the converse see Job xxix. 20 ' My glory is
fresh in me and my bow is renewed in my hand. '

36. This V. is probably to be rejected as Cornill suggests. It seems
to have been copied from Ez. v. 10, 12, xii. 14, and interrupts the
sequence of the passage, for if Elam has been scattered to the four
quarters of heaven it cannot be put to confusion before its enemies (v. 37).

38. set my throne. Cf. i. 15, xliii. 10.

39. Cf. xlix. 6.

Chapters L.— LI. 58 (=lxx. XXVIL, XXVIIL).

The Prophecy against Babylon.

This prophecy is distinguished from those that have gone before it by its
much greater length, by the numerous repetitions which it contains, and by
its being dated — if h. 59 refers as is generally supposed to the present prophecy
— in the fourth year of Zedekiah. In view of these and other facts scholars are
agreed in separating the oracle on Babylon from the rest of the prophecies on
the nations, and further with the exception of Orelli, and possibly of Rothstein,
they agree in regarding the passage as later than the time of Jeremiah. The
main arguments against the genuineness of the prophecy are as follows:
(i) The historical situation. In 1. 8 the children of Israel are bidden to flee
out of the midst of Babylon, the exile must therefore have already taken place;
cf. also vv. 19, 28 &c. The temple has fallen and the prophet calls for vengeance
for its violation (1. 28, li. 11, 51). It is possible that the language used refers
merely to the deportation of 597 b.c., though some greater and more lasting

L. r, 2] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 355

disaster seems needed to account for it. (ii) The point of view is different
from that of Jeremiah at the date when the prophecy was supposed to have
been written, for the prophet was then urging the exiles to accept residence in
Babylon as their fate for the next seventy years (xxv. 11, xxix. 10), whereas in
the present passage the Israelites are repeatedly bidden to flee out of the
doomed city, (iii) This prophecy has been chosen out by a recent writer^ as a
specimen of the bitterness with which the exilic Jews regarded Babylon, and
of their exultation over the thought of vengeance upon the oppressing nation.
No such exultation is found in the genuine writings of Jeremiah, who looked
upon Babylon as the instrument of Jehovah's punishment, though at the same
time he recognised that she would eventually be cast on one side and punished
for her own sins, (iv) The style and arrangement of the passage are suspicious.
As was pointed out above the prophecy is much longer than even the oracle on
Moab, which is itself suspected on this ground ; it also is full of repetitions, the
fall of Babylon, the subsequent desolation, and the return of the exiles to
Palestine, are each referred to some seven or more times ; there are also close
parallels to late writings (e.g. 1. 27, li. 40 and Is. xxxiv. 6tf.; 1. 39 f. and
Is. xiii. 19ff., xxxiv. 14, &c.), and Ewald would add the use of words belonging
to the later development of the language, e.g. }3D, nns, Dv-lpJl^, Many words
and phrases common in genuine writings of Jeremiah are found in these chapters
but they are generally regarded as borrowed. These arguments taken together
seem to shew conclusively that the passage is not the work of Jeremiah, and the
date usually assigned to it is the time wlien Cyrus was advancing against
Babylon and its destruction seemed innninent, that is somewhere about 538 B.C.
Dr Peake, however, thinks that the prophecy was written for those whose faith
was perplexed by the continued existence of Babylon after its conquest by
Cyrus ^. 'To such perplexity our oracle seeks to give an answer.'

In view of the constant repetitions in the passage and of the fewness of the
ideas contained in it no analysis seems possible or necessary.

L. 1 The word that the Lord spake concernmg Babylon,
concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet.

2 Declare ye among the nations and publish, and set up a
standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel

L. 2. The prophet speaks of events as already past, though they are
yet to come, so certain is lie of the power of God to perform that which
his intuition has shewn him to be God's will,

set ujy a standard. This phrase probably comes from Is. xiii. 2, and
is missing from lxx.

1 H. P. Smith, Eel. of Israel, p. 247.

- The argument from the use of words appearing in post-exilic books is not by
itself a strong one as the two first words quoted above are really loan words from
the Assyrian and the third occurs in Ezek.

3 For the fate of Babylon see Additional Note, pp. 373 ff,

23—2

356 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [l. 2-6

is put to shame, Merodach is ^dismayed; her images are put to
shame, her idols are ^dismayed. 3 For out of the north there
Cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land deso-
late, and none shall dwell therein : they are fled, they are gone,
both man and beast. 4 In those days, and in that time, saith
the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children
of Judah together ; they shall go on their way weeping, and shall
seek the Lord their God. 5 They shall inquire concerning Zion
with their faces ^thitherward, saying, Come ye, and ^join your-
selves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that shall not be
forgotten.

6 My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have
caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the

1 Or, broken down ^ Heb. hitherward.

^ Or, they shall join themselves

Bel... Merodach. Bel is really a title, like Baal, and means lord; one
of the oldest of the Babylonian deities was worshipped under this title
at Nippur, see further Wade's note on Is. xlvi. L Merodach or Marduk
was the local god of the city of Babylon, he was exalted by Hammurabi
to the supreme position in the Babylonian pantheon in the place of Nebo
or Nabu the god of Borsippa who is known as his son. Marduk is often
identified with Bel, though on the other hand hymns could be addressed
to him as 'the darling of Anu and of Bel^'

idols. Lit. idol-blocks, a common phrase in Ez. where it occurs nearly
forty times.

3. out of the noi'th. If this is not a genuine utterance of Jeremiah
it is borrowed from him; the phrase is somewhat unsuitable as a
description of the Persian conquerors of Babylon, but the north was used
more as a symbol for that which was unknown or hidden, and therefore
threatening, than as a quarter of the heavens (see on i. 14).

they are fled &c. Cf ix. 10.

4 f In these two w. the fall of Babylon is proclaimed as the signal
for the release of Israel. Three stages are set forth which the writer
foreshortens into almost a single event: the return from Babylon to
Zion, the union of the divided tribes, and the establishment of the
'New Covenant.'

5. thitherward. The original reads hitherward, the standpoint of
the writer is Palestine.

6. lost sheep. Misled by evil shepherds the people have fallen into

1 See Rogers, Rel. of Bab. p. 175; and cf. L. W. King, Bab. Rel. pp. 18 ff. Cheyne
(Decline and Fall, &c. p. 4) thinks that there was an attempted reaction against
the supremacy of Marduk and quotes a late inscription which commands the reader
to ' Trust in Nabii, trust not in another god.'

L. 6-9] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 357

mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have
forgotten their resting place. 7 All that found them have
devoured them : and their adversaries said, We offend not, be-
cause they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of
justice, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers. 8 Flee out of
the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chal-
deans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks. 9 For, lo, I will
stir up and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of
great nations from the north country : and they shall set them-
selves in array against her; from thence she shall be taken:
their arrows shall be as of ^an expert mighty man; ^none shall

1 Or, according to auother reading, a mighty man that maketh childless
" Or, that returneth not

superstitious habits and have wandered far from the ways of safety and
peace; the thought is one which is frequent in those passages of Jer.
which are generally accepted as authentic, cf. vi. 16, xxiii. 1 ff. &c.

mountains. The mountains were the scenes of some of the idolatrous
rites; cf. ii. 20, iii. 6; Ez. vi. 2f ^ It does not follow of course that
the mention of mountains is more than figurative ; cf xiii. 16.

resting place. Those who desert God may find many and varied
substitutes for Him, but these are all alike in their inability to provide
any permanent satisfaction; cf St Augustine, Conf. i. i. 'Thou hast
made us for Thyself and our heart is restless till it finds its rest in
Thee.'

7. We offend not. Cf Zech. xi. 5. Israel is no longer the first-fruits
of the Lord (ii. 3) and therefore no guilt is incurred by those who
devour them. The writer puts into the mouth of the enemies of Israel
what was felt by the true worshippers of God— that the fate of the
nation was due to its sins.

habitation of justice. Cf xxxi. 23 (used of Jerusalem).
hope of their fathers. Cf xiv. 8, xvii. 13; Ps. xxii. 4f

8. Flee out. Cf xlviii. 17, xlix. 30; Is. xlviii. 20.

the he-goats. The he-goats are the first of the flock, so Israel must
be the first of the flock of nations flying from the doomed city. Cf Is.
xiv. 8 where the same expression is used for the 'chief ones of the
earth. '

9. great nations. See Ii. 27 f

an expert mighty man. The Heb. text implied by the rendering of
mg. differs from MT. by the change of a single vowel; the text is to be
preferred.

none shall return. The reading of mg. is here to be taken, that

^ The Heb. text reads seducing or better apostate mountains, the rendering of
both A. and RV. follows the mg. and lxx.

358 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [l. 9-16

return in vain. 10 And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil
her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord. 1 1 Because ye are glad,
because ye rejoice, 0 ye that plunder mine heritage, because ye
are wanton as an heifer ^that treadeth out the corn, and neigh
as strong horses; 12 your mother shall be sore ashamed; she
that bare you shall be confounded: behold, she shall be the
hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
13 Because of the wrath of the Lord it shall not be inhabited,
but it shall be wholly desolate : every one that goeth by Babylon
shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. 14 Set yourselves
in array against Babylon round about, all ye that bend the bow ;
shoot at her, spare no arrows : for she hath sinned against the
Lord, 15 Shout against her round about; she hath ^submitted
herself ; her bulwarks are fallen, her walls are thr6wn down : for
it is the vengeance of the Lord ; take vengeance upon her ; as
she hath done, do unto her, 16 Cut off the sower from Babylon,
and him that handleth the sickle in the time of harvest : for fear
of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people,
and they shall flee every one to his own land.

1 Or, at grass ^ Heb. given her hand.

returneth not. As arrows do not return, but liit the mark, the reference
must be to the warrior.
in vain. Cf. 2 S. i. 22.

11. ye are wanton. Cf. Mai, iv. 2 ' gambol SiS calves of the stall'
where the Heb. word used is the same.

heifer, lxx. evidently read calves.

treadeth out the corn. Mg. at gy-ass = lxx. If the reading of the
text is preserved the metaphor is that of the unmuzzled cow (cf Dt.
XXV. 4) eating of the corn which it was treading out.

12. your mother, i.e. Babylon. Cf Hos. ii. 2, 5 (of Israel).
hindermost of the nations. Cf Nu. xxiv. 20, the curse on Amalek.
wilderness &c. Cf ii. 6, li. 43.

13. it shall not be inhabited. Cf Is. xiii. 20, and see Additional Note,
pp. 373 ff. The second part of the v. is modelled on xlix. 17, it contains
several expressions which are typical of other passages in the book (cf
xviii. 16, xix. 8, xxv. 9 a, 11a).

14. bend the bow. Cf v. 42; Is. xiii. 18 (of the Medes).

15. submitted herself. The mg. gives the literal rendering of the
expression which is late.

16. All agriculture is to cease and the crowd of strangers will flee
on the destruction of the hope of their gain: cf Ez. xvii. 4. The city of
Babylon had fields within the walls (Phny, Nat. Hist, xviii. 17) but the

L. 17-2.] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 359

17 Israel is a scattered sheep; the lions have driven him
away: first the king of Assyria hath devoured him; and last
this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath broken his bones.
18 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, tlie God of Israel :
Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have
punished the king of Assyria. 19 And I will bring Israel again
to his ^pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and
his soul shall be satisfied upon the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.
20 In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none ; and the
sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon
them whom I leave as a remnant.

21 Go up against the land of ^Merathaim, even against it,

1 Or, fold 2 That is, Double rebellion.

reference is probably not to be so limited. The second part of the v. is
very similar to xlvi. 16; Is. xiii. 14.

17. Not only is the flesh devoured but even the bones of the carcase
are broken up so that nothing is left which could be recognised.

18. Assyria had fallen according to the threats of earlier prophecies,
it is now the turn of Babylon. The v. was evidently written before the
fall of Babylon, unless indeed the wTiter is dehberately adopting_ an
earher standpoint, and it may well be a genuine utterance of Jeremiah,
being free from the objections against his authorship which lie against
the section as a whole (see above).

19. pasture. The lot of Babylon is to become a dry and barren land
{v. 17), Israel by taking flight is to return to the fertile land from which
it had originally been taken.

Carmel. The garden land; see on iv. 26. Carmel from the meaning
of its name was a symbol for prosperity and pastoral wealth; cf Is.
XXXV. 2 &c.

Bashan. Famous for its herds of cattle; Ps. xxii. 12; Am. iv. 1;
Ez. xxxix. 18, &c. For an interesting description of this region see
Porter, Giant Cities of Bashan, especially pp. 14 ff.

hills of Ephraim. Cf xxxiv. 13 f. 'I will feed them upon the
mountains of Israel &c.'

Gilead. Carmel, Bashan, and Gilead are all mentioned in a passage
in Mic. vii. 14 which may have been in the writer's mind. Gilead and
Bashan were on the east side of Jordan and therefore would be tlie first
lauds to be reached by the returning fugitives, just as they had been the
first to become the possession of Israel, and also the first to be ravaged
by the Assyrians: see further on xxii, 6.

20. The restoration from Babylon is to be the sign of the commg
in of the new age ; cf xxxi. 34.

21. Merathaim. This has been taken by Fred. Delitzsch and other

360 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [l. 21-27

and against the inhabitants of ^Pekod : slay and ^ utterly destroy
after them, saith the Lord, and do according to all that I have
commanded thee. 22 A sound of battle is in the land, and of
great destruction. 23 How is the hammer of the whole earth
cut asunder and broken ! how is Babylon become a desolation
among the nations! 24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou
art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware : thou art
found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the
Lord. 25 The Lord hath opened his armoury, and hath brought
forth the weapons of his indignation : for the Lord, the Lord of
hosts, hath a work to do in the land of the Chaldeans. 26 Come
against her ^from the utmost border, open her ^storehouses:
cast her up as heaps, and ^destroy her utterly: let nothing of
her be left. 27 Slay all her bullocks ; let them go down to the

^ That is, Visitation. - Heb. devote. ^ Or, frovi every quarter

* Or, granaries ® Heb. devote her.

scholars to be a reference to the Assyrian mat marrdtim, the sea-country,
i.e. South Babylonia. The word in Heb. would mean double rebellion (so
mg.) or double bitterness (lxx.).

Pekod. This suggested to the Hebrews visitation (mg.); it was
the name of a Babylonian tribe the Puqudu (cf. Ez. xxiii. 23).

utterly destroy. Mg. devote, place under a ban, so that the object
or person could not be used for any common purpose and very often
was destroyed ; cf. the story of Achan (.Jos. vi., vii.) and see Dr McNeile's
note on Ex. xxii. 20; W. K Smith, Rel. Sem.' pp. 150 fF.

22. great destruction. A common expression in Jer. (iv. 6, vi. 1).

23. the hammer. In Is. xiv. 5 Babylon is called the 'staff' or 'sceptre.'
For the name hammer as a title for a conqueror cf Charles Martel, the
victor of Tours, and our own Edward I 'the hammer of the Scots'
(Scotorum Malleus) ; the old interpretation of the name Maccabaeus
connected it with the Heb. word for hammer but there are difficulties
in the identification (see Enc. Bib. 2850).

'24. thou wast not aware. Cf. Job ix. 5 'which removeth the
mountains and they hiow it not. '

25. weapons of his indignation. The same phrase is used in Is. xiii.
5, cf X. 5; in Wisd. v. 17 ff. Jehovah makes the whole creation supply
Him with weapons for vengeance upon His enemies.

I 26. In this v. the fate of the material wealth of Babylon is foretold,
in the next it is the fate of her children.

destroy her utterly. See on -y. 21, and cf Dt. xiii. 16.

27. her bullocks. This expression may be taken literally (cf Is.
xxxiv. 6) : it is much better, however, to understand by bullocks the
young warriors or perhaps the leaders of the people (cf Ps. Ixviii. 30 ;
Is. xxxiv. 7).

L. 27-34] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 361

slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of
their visitation. 28 The voice of them that flee and escape out
of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the
Lord our God, the vengeance of his temple. 29 Call together
^the archers against Babylon, all them that bend the bow ; camp
against her round about ; let none thereof escape : recompense
her according to her work ; according to all that she hath done,
do unto her : for she hath been proud against the Lord, against
the Holy One of Israel. 30 Therefore shall her young men fall
in her streets, and all her men of war shall be brought to silence
in that day, saith the Lord. 31 Behold, I am against thee, ^0
thou proud one, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts : for thy day
is come, the time that I will visit thee. 32 Aijd ^the proud one
shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up : and I will
kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all that are round
about him.

33 Thus saith the Lord of hosts : The children of Israel and
the children of Judah are oppressed together : and all that took
them captives hold them fast; they refuse to let them go.
34 Their redeemer is strong ; the Lord of hosts is his name : he
shall throughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the

1 Or, many ^ Heb. 0 Pride. ^ Heb. Pride.

their day. Cf. Ps. xxxvii. 13; Job xviii. 20.

28. in Zion. Cf. Is. lii. 7 ff.

the vengeance of his temple. Missing from lxx. and possibly
inserted from li. 11. The crime for which Babylon is to be punished is
that of sacrilege (cf. the story in Dan. v.).

29. archers. Cf v. 14.

camp against. The same expression is used of Jehovah Himself
camping against Ariel (Is. xxix. 3).

she hath been proud &c. This half of the v. seems to shew the influence
of Is. xxxvii. 23.

30. =xlix. 26.

31 f In each case the reading of mg. Pride as a proper name is to
h&'pxQievxQdito thou proud one: Babylon is the personification of pride:
cf xxi. 13 f

32. fall. Cf. Is. xiv. 12; Amos v. 2.

33. The standpoint of the author of this v. is still that of the exile,
the foreign oppressors of Israel like Pharaoh of old refuse to let them go :
cf Is. xiv. 17.

34. Their redeemer. Cf Pro v. xxiii. 11; Is. xlvii. 4.

give rest... disquiet. Cf Is. xiv. 5 — 8, 16; Nah. iii. 19. The

362 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [l. 34-39

earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. 35 A sword is
upon the Chaldeans, saith the Lord, and upon the inhabitants of
Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. 36 A
sword is upon the ^boasters, and they shall dote : a sword is upon
her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed. 37 A sword is upon
their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled
people that are in the midst of her, and they shall become as
women : a sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed.

38 A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up:
for it is a land of graven images, and they are mad upon ^idols.

39 ^Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the * wolves

1 Heb. boastings. ^ Heb. terrors.

^ See Is. xiii. 21, 22. * Heb. howling creatures.

experiences which befell the weaker nations at the hands of Babylon
are now to be the lot of Babylon herself.

36. boasters, i.e. the lying prophets and diviners, as is shewn by
a reference to Is. xliv. 25 mg.

37. chariots. The main strength of ancient armies, like the artillery
of the present, the third arm of the service; cf xlvi. 9; Is. xliii. 17;
Ps. XX. 8.

mingled people. 'The all mingled crowd' as Aeschylus called them
(Pers. 52 ff.); strangers resident in Babylon for purposes of trade
(cf XXV. 20), or perhaps foreign mercenaries (xlvi. 16).

as women. Of Nah. iii. 13.

her treasures. Cf li. 13; Hah. ii. 6; and Is. xlv. 3 (with Dr Wade's
note).

38. drought. As the Heb. for sword and drought is exactly the
same in the unpointed text we should probably retain 'sword' as in the
previous vv.

waters. The prosperity of Babylon was bound up with its water-
supply; cf Canon Johns, Anc. Bab. p. 5 'The very life of the land
depended on irrigation. It was the supreme ambition of a good ruler
to cut a new canal or clean out an old one.... Such works often served
to name the year.'

thei/ are mad upon idols. The Heb. should be translated they make
themselves mad with idols, probably it is better to follow the versions
(lxx., Syr. &c.) and to read, with a slightly different vocalisation of the
original, tkey boast themselves of idols (cf Ps. xcvii. 7). The word for
idols, as the mg. points out, literally means terror's, and such the heathen
objects of worship must have seemed to those who worshipped a God
of Whom no images were allowed.

39. This V. is based upon Is. xiii. 21, 22 a, 20 a.

wolves. As in Is. xiii. 22 ; the Heb is howlers, 'jackals' may be a
better translation.

L. 39-LL i] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 363

shall dwell there, and the ostriches shall dwell therein : and it
shall be no more inhabited for ever ; neither shall it be dwelt in
from generation to generation. 40 As when God overthrew Sodom
and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the Lord ;
so shall no man dwell there, neither shall any son of man sojourn
therein. 41 ^Behold, a people cometh from the north; and a
great nation, and many kings shall be stirred up from the utter-
most parts of the earth. 42 They lay hold on bow and spear ;
they are cruel, and have no mercy ; their voice roareth like the
sea, and they ride upon horses ; every one set in array, as a man
to the battle, against thee, 0 daughter of Babylon. 43 The king
of Babylon liath heard the fame of them, and his hands wax
feeble: anguish hath taken hold of him, and pangs as of a
woman in travail. 44 ^ Behold, he shall come up like a lion from
the pride of Jordan against the strong habitation : but I will
suddenly make them run away from her ; and whoso is chosen,
him will I appoint over her: for who is like me? and who will
appoint me a time ? and who is the shepherd that will stand be-
fore me? 45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord, that
he hath taken against Babylon ; and his purposes, that he hath
purposed against the land of the Chaldeans : Surely they shall
drag them away, even the little ones of the flock ; surely he shall
make their habitation desolate with them. 46 At the noise of
the taking of Babylon the earth trembleth, and the cry is heard
among the nations.

LI. 1 Thus saith the Lord : Behold, I will raise up against

1 See ch. vi. 22—24. 2 gee ch. xlix. 19—21.

ostriches, lxx. translates 6vyarip€<; a-eip-^viov (i.e. daughters of sirens)
as in Mic. i. 8 (cf. Enoch xcvi. 2). The renderinfif of AV. otvls is generally
abandoned though the Syrian peasants still call the owl ' the mother of
ruins.'

40. =xlix. 18; cf. Is. xiii. 19.

41 — 43. These vv. are a repetition of vi. 22 ff. with slight alterations
to fit them to Babylon instead of Jerusalem.

43 — 46. = xlix. 19 — 21, Babylon being substituted for Edom.

44. a lion. Cyrus is here meant, not Nebuchadrezzar as in xlix. 19.

46. the nations. The noise of the fall of Edom penetrated only as
far as the Red Sea (xlix. 21).

LI. 1. Leb-kamai. The mg. reading gives the meaning of the Heb.

364 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [li. 1-7

Babylon, and against them that dwell in ^Leb-kamai, a destroy-
ing wind. 2 And I will send unto Babylon ^strangers, that shall
fan her ; and they shall empty her land : for in the day of trouble
they shall be against her round about. 3 ^Let not the archer
bend his bow, and let him not lift himself up in his coat of mail :
and spare ye not her young men; * destroy ye utterly all her
host. 4 And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chal-
deans, and thrust through in her streets. 5 For Israel is not
forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of the Lord of hosts ; though
their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. 6 Flee
out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life ; be not
cut off in her iniquity : for it is the time of the Lord's vengeance ;
he will render unto her a recompence. 7 Babylon hath been a
golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken :

^ That is, The heart of them that rise up against me. According to ancient tra-
dition, a cypher for Casdim, that is Chaldea. ^ Or, fanners

^ Or, as otlierwise read, Against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow,
and against him that lifteth himself up <&c. * Heb. devote ye all <£c.

words. For the cypher see ou xxv. 26. According to Rev. xvii. 5 Baby-
ion is the type of all them that rise up against God.

a destroying wind. Better the spirit of a destroyer; cf. u 11, xxii.
7 ; Hag. i. 14.

2. strangers. The subsequent verb requires the rendering of mg.
fanners, i.e. winnowers, which difl'ers from the text only in pointing.

empty. Cf Is. xxiv. 1 ; Nah. ii. 2.

3. This V. is probably corrupt. As the latter half of the command
is addressed to the invaders it is perhaps best to leave out the negatives
and to look upon the whole as a single utterance. The rendering of mg.
does little towards solving the difficulty of the MT. which evidently
was an address to the Babylonians pointing out to them the futility of
resistance.

5. Israel is not forsaken. The anger of Jehovah against His people
is not to last for ever, and He will restore them; cf Is. 1. 1, liv. 4 fif.
The word for forsaken literally means widowed, but by some confusion,
since Jehovah is always looked upon as the husband of the land, it is
in the masculine form.

though their land. The Heb. should probably be taken as for their
land (i.e. Babylonia), and in this case Cornill's suggestion that the two
halves of the v. should be transposed has much to recommend it.

6. Mee out. Those who remain behind, whether Jews or other
foreign residents, will be involved in the fate of the guilty city. The
address is probably to the Jews ; cf v. 45, 1. 6; Is. xlviii. 20, lii. 12.

recompence. Cf Is. lix. 18, Ixvi. 6.

7. a golden cup. There is no real connexion between the use of

LI. 7-"] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 365

the nations have drunk of her wine ; therefore the nations are
mad. 8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed : howl for her ;
take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. 9 We would
have healed Babylon, but she is not healed : forsake her, and let
us go every one into his own country : for her judgement reacheth
unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. 10 The Lord
hath brought forth our righteousiiess : come, and let us declare
in Zion the work of the Lord our God. 11 Make ^ sharp the
arrows; ^hold firm the ^shields: the Lord hath stirred up the
spirit of the kings of the Medes ; because his device is against

1 Or, bright Heb. clean. ^ Heb. Jill. ^ Or, suits of armour

the image of the cup in this passage and that in xxv. ; in the one it is
the cup of God's wrath which is to be poured out upon all nations, in
the other the cup of Babylon's luxury and sin, symbolised by the epithet
golden^, which has been drunk of by the other nations. In so far as
Babylon was the instrument of vengeance in God's hand, so far she
might be identified with the cup of His wrath. The v. is used in
Rev. xvii. 4 together with Nah. iii. 4.

8. Babylon is... fallen. C£ Is. xxi. 9; Rev. xiv. 8, xviii. 2. The
metaphor of the golden cup is here dropped unless indeed the figure of
the metal cup suggested the further image of the earthenware vessel and
its fragility (cf. xix. 1 £f., xxii. 28).

halm. See on viii. 22.

9. This V. is best taken as the response of the nations, still in-
fatuated with the past glory of Babylon, bewailing their inability to
restore her broken fortunes.

10. The Jews here break forth with very different emotions upon
the fall of the city.

our righteousness. That is, God has shewn our cause to be in the
right, we have had the verdict given in our favour,

11. The nations and the Jews having ceased, a fresh exhortation
is given to the approaching foe to make ready for the attack.

sharp. For the mg. bright, clean, cf Is. xlix. 2 where the same Heb.
root is used for 'polished shaft.'

hold firm the shields. Prof W. E. Barnes {Expos. Times, x. pp. 43 — 45)
thinks that shields should be translated armour, equipment. This would
suit the Heb. verb for fill (mg.) which does not give any satisfiictory
sense when applied to shields : cf 2 S. xxiii. 7 with Driver's note.

kings of the Medes. Cf v. 28; and Is. xiii. 17. lxx. reads the
singular with evident reference to Cyrus, if this reading is not adopted
the wTiter must be regarded as having had in view the rulers of the
separate Median tribes. The oftice of the Medes seems always to be that
of ravage and destruction (cf Dan. vii. 4).

1 Aeschylus called Babylon 19 irok&xfivcroi, Pers. 53.

366 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [li. n-rg

Babylon, to destroy it : for it is the vengeance of the Lord, the
vengeance of his temple. 12 Set up a standard against the walls
of Babylon, make the watch strong, set the watchmen, prepare
the ambushes : for the Lord hath both devised and done that
which he spake concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. 13 O
thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures,
thine end is come, the measure of thy ^covetousness. 14 The
Lord of hosts hath sworn by himself, sayifig, Surely I will fill
thee with men, as with the canker worm ; and they shall lift up
a shout against thee.

15 ^He hath made the earth by his power, he hath established
the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding hath he
stretched out the heavens: 16 when he uttereth his voice, there
is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causeth the vapours
to ascend from the ends of the earth ; he maketh lightnings for
the rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasuries.

17 Every man is become brutish and is without knowledge;
every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image: for his
molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.

18 They are vanity, a work of delusion : in the time of their
visitation they shall perish. 19 The portion of Jacob is not like
these ; for he is the former of all things ; and Israel is the tribe
of his inheritance : the Lord of hosts is his name.

1 Or, dishonest gain ^ See ch. x. 12 — 16.

temple. Cf. 1. 28.

12. make the ivatch strong. That is the watch of the investing
troops: cf. iv. 16.

13. waters. Cf. 1. 38.
treasures. See on 1. 37.

end is come. Cf. Am. viii. 2; Ez. vii. 2, 7.

measure of thy covetousness. Better taking the literal meaning of
the Heb. words the cubit of thy cutting off; the metaphor is the same
as that employed in Is. xxxviii. 12 'He will cut me off from the loom.'

14. Taking the translation of RV. the meaning of this v. is that
God is going to fill Babylon with enemies as numerous and as harmful
as locusts ; another suggestion would render the Heb. by though I have
filled &c. and take the figure to represent Babylon's immense population,
the second part of the v. would then refer to the besiegers.

canlcerwarm. Common in Nah. and Joel ; a symbol both for destruc-
tion (Ps. cv. 34 &c.) and for numbers (Nah. iii. 15).
15 — 19. These vv. =x. 12 — 16 where see notes.

LI. 20-24] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 367

20 Thou art ray ^battle axe and weapons of war: and with
the ewill I break in pieces the nations ; and with thee will I de-
stroy kingdoms ; 21 and with thee will I break in pieces the horse
and his rider ; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot
and him that rideth therein ; 22 and with thee will I break in
pieces man and woman ; and with thee will I break in pieces the
old man and the youth ; and with thee will I break in pieces the
young man and the maid; 23 and with thee will I break in
pieces the shepherd and his flock ; and with thee will I break in
pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen ; and with thee will
I break in pieces ^governors and deputies. 24 And I will render
unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil
that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord.

1 Or, maul ^ Or, lieutenants

20 — 24. At first sight the rendering of EVV. makes these vv. refer
to some coming instrument of Jehovah, perhaps Cyrus. The future
tenses in the translation may however represent habitual action and in
this case they should be translated by presents, and the vv. be applied
to Babylon (cf 1. 23).

20. battle axe. The Heb. word means literally a sJiatte/i-er : cf 1. 23 \
Nah. ii. 1 ; Ez. ix. 2.

23. governms and deputies. These words occur together in Ez.
xxiii. 6, 12 fF. where however the translation is slightly different. Both
words are found in the inscriptions and appear to be Assyrian by origin,
though adopted later by the Persians &c. The word for governor (mg.
lieutenant^ is "^Cf (Pehah), i.e. pahdti or in the fuller form bel pahdti,
it is used in Neh. ii. 7 of the satraps having rule 'beyond the river'
as well as of Nehemiah himself (Neh. v. 14) and Zerubbabel (Hag. i. 1).
The word for deputy is l-ip (sagan), i.e. saknu, prefect or ruler; evidently
some slightly inferior official (cf Neh. ii. 12 &c.).

24. unto Babylon. If the previous vv. are taken to refer to Baby-
lon— mentioned in the second person — this v. is best explained as an
addition of one who looked upon them as referring to Cyrus (see above).

evil... in Zion. Cf xxv. 29 'I begin to work evil at the city which
is called by my name ' ; the point of view of this v. is quite different
from that of Jeremiah and seems to reflect a later age when the remem-
brance of Judah's sin against Jehovah had been wiped out by the present
reality of their sufferings at the hands of Babylon, Jehovah's instrument
of vengeance (cf Is. xl. 2).

in your sight. The words are to be connected not with those im-
mediately before them but with God's promise of recompence : cf Ps.
xxxvii. 34, xci. 8; Mai. i. 5.

368 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [li. 25-27

25 Behold, I am against thee, 0 destroying mountain, saith
the Lord, which destroy est all the earth : and I will stretch out
mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and
will make thee a burnt mountain. 26 And they shall not take
of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but
thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the Lord. 27 Set ye up a
standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, ^pre-
pare the nations against her, call together against her the king-
doms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz : appoint a marshal against

1 Heb. sanctify.

25. thee. Babylon is once more addressed in the second person.
destroying mountain. Cf. 2 K. xxiii. 13 (RVm.). The address to

Babylon as a mountain must be understood as figurative, for the city
was built on a plain, and any elevation which it possessed was in the
political rather than in the physical sphere. Budde thinks that the
description may have been borrowed from Ezekiel's condemnation of
Mount Seir (Ez. xxxv. 3 ff.).

roll thee down. Cf. Rev. viii. 8 ' a great mountain burning with fi.re
was cast into the sea.'

burnt mountain. The figure may be that of a volcano which after
a period of destruction becomes extinct leaving its own sides desolate
and bare (cf Is. xiii. 3).

26. a stone. It is doubtful whether the figure of the burnt mountain
is continued into this v. as some critics imagine; if so the stones must
be taken as having been so damaged by the fire as to be unfit for building
purposes. The literal explanation, however, is really the best, and the
actual stones of Babylon are referred to, the meaning being that Baby-
lon is never to be rebuilt.

27. prepare (mg. sanctify). See on vi. 4.

Ararat. Mentioned here ; Gen. viii. 4; and 2 K. xix. 37 (=Is. xxxvii.
38). The country lying to the north-west of Lake Van known as Urartu
in the inscriptions and now forming part of Armenia (cf lxx. of Is.
xxxvii. 38).

Minni. Here only in OT. but evidently the same as the Mannai
of the inscriptions, a people whose land lay to the south-east of Lake
Urumia.

Ashkenaz. Here and Gen. x. 3 ( = 1 Ch. i. 6). Many scholars identify
this country with the Ashguza mentioned in the inscriptions, whose
prince was an ally of the Mannai {KB. 11. pp. 129, 147). The Jews of the
Middle Ages identified Ashkenaz with Germany; and in the present
day German Jews are called AshJcenazim to distinguish them from the
Sephardim or Spanish Jews (cf Ob. 20).

marshal. Here and Nah. iii. 17 only. The Heb. iDfip (tiphsar) is
a loan-word from the Assyrian dupsarru, registrar. It evidently signifies
some high official, here perhaps the generalissimo of the forces allied

LI. 27-33] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 369

her; cause the horses to come up as the rough cankerworm.
28 ^Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the
governors thereof, and all the deputies thereof, and all the land
of his dominion. 29 And the land trembleth and is in pain : for
the purposes of the Lord against Babylon do stand, to make the
land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. 30 The mighty
men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they remain in their
strong holds ; their might hath failed ; they are become as women:
her dwelling places are set on fire ; her bars are broken. 31 One
post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to meet an-
other, to shew the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every
quarter : 32 and the ^passages are surprised, and the ^ reeds they
have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

33 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel : The
daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time when
it is trodden ; yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall

1 Heb. sanctify. ^ Or, fords ^ Or, marshes Heb. pools.

against Babylon. Graf thinks that the word is intended to be a collective
like horse (in sing, in Heb.) in the next clause, and that it represents
some special kind of troops.

cankerworm. See on v. 14.

28. kings. Read with lxx. king (cf. his dominion).

govm'nors... deputies. See on v. 23.

30. bars. The bars of a city as being amongst its most vital defences
often symbolise its whole power of resistance ; cf. Jud. xvi. 3; 1 K. iv. 13.

31. The king of Babylon was evidently in the city at the time of
its fall and messenger after messenger came to him from the different
points of the outer defences, but all with the same message of disaster.

post. Lit. runner.

32. passages. Mg. fm-ds as in Jud. iii. 28. It is better, however,
to see here a reference to the ferries across the Euphrates ; cf. Herod.
I. 186.

reeds. The Heb. pools may refer to the artificial channels which
formed part of the defences of the city (Herod, i. 185).

burned. This must be taken as hyperbolic (so Calvin) or the text
emended in some way or other.

33. a threshing-floor. The threshing-floor was trodden over in order
to provide a level space for beating out the grain ; a similar figure is
used by Tiglath-Pileser III who speaks of ' treading down ' the land of
his enemies 'as in threshing.' Schrader, GOT. i. p. 225.

harvest. The harvest as an image of destruction is somewhat rare,
the usual figure being either the treading of the wine-press or of the
vintage itself (see Pusey on Joel iii. 13).

B. 24

370 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [li. 33-40

come for her. 34 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath
devoured ^me, he hath crushed ^me, he hath made ^ me an empty
vessel, he hath swallowed ^me up like a dragon, he hath filled
hismaw withmydelicates; he hath cast ^ me out. 35 ^The violence
done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the ^inhabitant
of Zion say ; and, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,
shall Jerusalem say. 36 Therefore thus saith the Lord : Behold,
I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee ; and I will
dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry. 37 And Babylon
shall become heaps, a dwelling place for jackals, an astonishment,
and an hissing, without inhabitant. 38 They shall roar together
like young lions; they shall growl as lions' whelps. 39 When
they are heated, I will make their feast, and I will make them
drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and
not wake, saith the Lord. 40 I will bring them down like lambs

1 Another reading is, us. ^ Heb. My wrong and my flesh.

3 Heb. inhabitress.

34. In this and the following vv. the speaker is Israel herself, the
sing, of the text should therefore be read rather than the plural of the
mg.

empty vessel. A vessel turned upside down and from which the
contents are quite exhausted, the figure is not an uncommon one ; cf.
V. 2, xlviii. 12; Nah. ii. 2, 10.

dragon. The Heb. word means any kind of sea or land monster.
In Is. xxvii. 1 the great world powers are symbolised as monsters and
no doubt the same idea underlies the allegory in the book of Jonah : cf.
on V. 44.

35. Cf Gen. xvi. 5.

36. sea. The Nile is referred to as a sea in Is. xviii. 2, xix. 5, &c.
In the Semitic languages the usage of words for sea and river is some-
what vague, cf. the use of ndru in Assyrian and bahr in Arabic.

37. Cf ix. 10 &c.

39. The growling of lions over their meat suggests the picture of
men falling into a drunken slumber over their wine.

their feast. There w^as an ancient tradition that Babylon was taken
by Cyrus during a banquet (Herod, i. 191 ; Xenophon, Cyro}}. vii. 23;
and cf Dan. v.) ; if this was so the figure may have a deeper significance
than at first appears.

may rejoice, lxx. may be stupefied ; this rendering, which involves
the change of a single consonant in MT., is to be preferred as rejoicing
does not fit well into the context.

a perpetual sleep. Cf Job xiii. 12; Ps. xiii. 3, &c. In the Book of
Jubilees xxiii. 1 Abraham is said to have ' slept the sleep of eternity.'

40. Cf Is. xxxiv. 6f ; Ez. xxxix. 18.

LI. 40-46] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 371

to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats. 41 How is ^Sheshach
taken! and the praise of the whole earth surprised! how is
Babylon become ^a desolation among the nations! 42 The sea
is come up upon Babylon : she is covered with the ^multitude of
the waves thereof. 43 Her cities are become ^a desolation, a
dry land, and a desert, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither
doth any son of man pass thereby. 44 And I will *do judgement
upon Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth
that which he hath swallowed up ; and the nations shall not flow
together any more unto him : yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall.
45 My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and save your-
selves every man from the fierce anger of the Lord. 46 And let
not your heart faint, neither fear ye for the rumour that shall
be heard in the land; for a rumour shall come one year, and

1 Sfie ch. XXV. 26. ^ Or, an astonishment

3 Or, tumult * Heb. visit upon.

41. Sheshach. See on xxv. 26.

praise of the whole earth. Cf. xlix. 25 ; Is. Ixii. 7 (of Jerusalem).

42. The sea. The flood of invasion breaking over the city ; cf. xlvi.
7f, xlvii. 2; Is. viii. 7f, xvii. 12.

44 — 49. This passage from yea, the wall (v. 44 b) to the slam . . . to fall
{v. 49 a) is missing from lxx. The matter in it is largely repeated in
vv. 49 b — 53 and Duhm thinks the latter passage is a revised draft of
the present w. for which they were afterwards substituted. The simplest
explanation seems to be that the eye of the translator went from Baby-
lon shall fall (v. 44 b) to the same words in v. 49 and the intervening w.
remained untranslated.

44. Bel. See on 1. 2.

swallowed. The spoils from the nations and the trains of captives.
Cheyne connects this passage with the story of Jonah (Theol. Rev. xiv.
Jonah : a Study in Jewish Folk-lore and Bsligion).

45. Cf V. 6, 1. 8; Is. lii. 11; 1 Esdr. ii. 7.

46. The state of mind here described must often have recurred in
anciert times when news travelled slowly and authoritative statements
were few. The description hardly agrees with the actual events which
preceded the immediate fall of Babylon, though Nabonidus may have
had to deal with many attempts at revolt on the part of those cities
whose worship he tried to suppress^ The period to which this v. would

1 Nabonidus, like Amenophis IV in Egypt and Hezekiah and Josiah in Judah,
tried to centralise the national worship. The method he adopted, that of removing
all the local deities to Babylon, was not calculated to earn the good will of the priests
and worshippers of the despoiled shrines and indeed made the subsequent conquest
by Cyrus a comparatively easy task.

24—2

372 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [li. 46-52

after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in
the land, ruler against ruler. 47 Therefore, behold, the days
come, that I will do judgement upon the graven images of Babylon,
and her whole land shall be ashamed ; and all her slain shall fall
in the midst of her. 48 Then the heaven and the earth, and all
that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon ; for the spoilers
shall come unto her from the north, saith the Lord. 49 ^As
Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon
shall fall the slain of all the ^land. 50 Ye that have escaped the
sword, go ye, stand not still ; remember the Lord from afar, and
let Jerusalem come into your mind. 51 We are ashamed, be-
cause we have heard reproach ; confusion hath covered our faces:
for strangers are come into the sanctuaries of the Lord's house.
52 Wherefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will
do judgement upon her graven images ; and through all her land

1 Or, Both Babylon is to fall, 0 ye slain of Israel, and at &c. ^ Or, earth

seem best to apply is that following the death of Alexander during
which his empire was forcibly divided up between his various generals
and their successors. The varying fortunes of the long contest must have
given opportunities for many rumours to arise, and as Palestine was
part of the disputed territory no small interest must have been taken in
the progress of events.

47. This V. bears a close resemblance to v. 52 and should probably
be omitted.

Therefore. If this v. is retained therefore which does not connect
easily with what has gone before should be rendered a,s for.

graven images. Cornill proposes to emend the text and to read
rulers ; he compares Is. xiv. 5, xlix. 7, Hi. 5 \

48. Babylon's fall is to be a matter for rejoicing not only to the
nations but also to the powers of nature, heaven and earth are called in
to witness the spoiling of the guilty city (cf. Is. xliv. 23).

49. The V. reads more smoothly if both the mg. renderings are
adopted and one slight change is made in the Heb. — the repetition of a
single consonant which may well have been omitted by error. The v.
will then read Babylon also is to fall for the slain of Israel, as for
Babylo7i have fallen the slain of all tlie earth.

50. Cf. 1. 5.

51. Israel is ashamed to return to her desolate and despoiled sanc-
tuary which has been desecrated by the presence therein of foreigners;
cf Lam. i. 10 ; Ps. Lxxix. 1 ; and for the same feeling in later times
Acts xxi. 28 ff.

1 The change involved in the Heb. is not very great, vK^D being substituted for

LI. 53-58] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 373

the wounded shall groan. 53 Though Babylon should mount up to
heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength,
yet from me shall spoilers come unto her, saith the Lord. 54 The
sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the
land of the Chaldeans ! 55 for the Lord spoileth Babylon, and
destroyeth out of her the great voice ; and their waves roar like
many waters, the noise of their voice is uttered: 56 for the
spoiler is come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty
men are taken, their bows are broken in pieces : for the Lord is
a God of recompences, he shall surely requite. 57 And I will
make drunk her princes and her wise men, her governors and
her deputies, and her mighty men ; and they shall sleep a per-
petual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the
Lord of hosts. 58 Thus saith the Lord of hosts: ^The broad
walls of Babylon shall be utterly ^ overthrown, and her high gates
shall be burned with fire; ^and the peoples shall labour for vanity,
and the nations for the fire ; and they shall be weary.

1 Or, The loalls of broad Babylon ^ Or, made bare

3 See Hab. ii. 13.

53. mount up to heaven. Cf. Gen. xi. 4; Is. xiv. 12 f.; Job xx. 6.

54. Cf. xlviii. 3, 1. 22, 46.

55. the great mice. The din of the populous city.

their ivaves. The position of the words seems to make them refer
to the noise of the inhabitants as did the previous clause, it is tempting
however to attach them to the next v. and to apply them to the spoilers
(cf. V. 42).

57. Cf. V. 39.

58. The hroad walls. Better with lxx. ivall. The walls of Babylon
were one of the wonders of antiquity; cf. Herod, i. 178 f.; Pliny, Nat.
Hist. VI. 26; Strabo xvi. 1.

utterly overthroivn. Mg. made bare, the foundations discovered.
Darius was the actual destroyer of the fortifications of Babylon.

and the peoples &c. = Hab. ii. 13, being probably a quotation in both
instances from some earlier prophecy.

Additional Note on l. 13.

The Fate of Babylon.

The forecasts of the Hebrew prophets that Babylon was to be utterly
destitute and without inhabitant have been fulfilled almost to the letter, though
it was not till long after the fall of the city to the troops of Cyrus that its de-

374 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH

cline really began. According to Herodotus, Babylon was left uninjured by
Cyrus and it was on its second capture by Darius that the walls and gates were
demolished^. Mr Bevan says that by the conquest Babylon did not 'lose its
imperial dignity. Its greatness was too well based on its old renown, its geo-
graphical position, its immense population, its commercial and industrial su-
premacy. It could not but be still the capital of the world, the seat of the
' King of kings,' even though that title now belonged to a foreigner. During
the hot Babylonian summer indeed the Iranian monarch used to withdraw to
his own high country, to Persepolis or Bcbatana; but for the seven cooler
months of the year the Persian court resided at Babylon 2.' The Babylonians
made several attempts to revolt and in consequence of one of these Xerxes
destroyed the great temple and took away the image of BeP. When Alexander
had completed his long series of conquests it was to Babylon that he turned as
the destined capital of Asia, if not of his whole empire*, and it was there that
the youthful conqueror breathed his last. The successors of Alexander, how-
ever, were the instruments by which the city finally lost its importance.
' Sennacherib had razed it to the soil, and it had risen again to new glory.
Cyrus and Alexander had conquered it, and it was still the capital of the world.
But Seleucus Nicator brought its doom upon Babylon at last. It had subsisted. . .
through all changes of empire owing to a prerogative which was founded upon
natural conditions. But the prerogative belonged to the land rather than to
the particular city. It was a natural necessity that there should be in this
alluvial region a great centre of human life, and if Babylon were merely dis-
persed, as by Sennacherib, the human swarm again gathered. There was only
one way by which Babylon could really be undone — by the creation of another
centre. This was what Seleucus did. Forty miles north of Babylon, Seleucus
marked the foundations of a new city, Seleucia-on-the-Tigris....From this
moment Babylon was doomed^.' But though Babylon lost its importance it
has never been without inhabitants, that is if by Babylon is meant the whole
circuit of the ancient city, which as Aristotle said was ' not so much a city in
dimensions as a nation".' Strabo did indeed describe it in the last century b.c.-
as a desert '', and Benjamin of Tudela in the Middle Ages has preserved a
description of its ruined state, but as Dean Stanley says ' Babylon has never
ceased to be inhabited. Hillah, a town with a population of five thousand souls,
is within its walls, and the Arabs still wander through it^.' At the same time

1 ni. 159. Berosus, however, says that Cyrus gave orders for the outer walls to
be pulled down (quoted in Joseph, c. Ap. i. 19).

* House of Seleucus, i. p. 241. The whole account there coutained of Babylonia
from the earliest times is most interesting.

3 Herod. 1. 183.

•* See Bevan, op. cit. i. p. 246.

'^ Bevan, op. cit. i. pp. 252 f.; see also Pliny, Nat. Hist. vi. 30, 122; Pausan
I. xvi. 3 &c.

6 Pol. III. 3.

' XVI. i. 5 ip7j/j.la fjLeyoKT] iarlv i] /xeydX-rj 7r6Xts.

8 Jew. Church, in. p. 66.

LI. 59> 60] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 375

the real Babylon and the site of the royal palace of Nebnchadrezzar are but a
mass of ruinous heaps and unsightly mounds, and the haunt, as the prophet
foretold, of the wolf and the jackaP.

Chapter LI. 59 — 64.
The Mission of Seraiah.

Though the accoimt contained in this section has been rejected by some
scholars there is no real reason for so doing. The objections which have been
brought against it are {a) it is closely connected with the foregoing prophecy
on Babylon which is almost universally rejected by critics (». 60) ; (&) it is im-
probable that Zedekiah visited Babylon in person at this time {v. 59) ; (c) the
sinking of the message in the river is an act so theatrical as to be unworthy of
Jeremiah. In reply to these objections it may be urged that the statement in
V. 60 is in all probability the addition of a later writer and that the rejection of
1. 1 — li. 58 need not imply the rejection of li. 59 — 64; further there is no real
improbability in a visit from Zedekiah to his overlord in Babylon in connexion
with the recent attempts at revolt (xxvii.), the personal attendance of the
Judean monarch may have been the only way of lulling the suspicions of the
Chaldeans ; finally, the sinking of the stone in the Euphrates can be matched
by many other similar acts both by Jeremiah himself (e.g. xix. 1 — 10, xliii. 9, &c.)
and also by other prophets. Positive arguments in favour of the authenticity
of the passage are not lacking. The messenger to whom Jeremiah entrusted
the scroll was apparently a brother of Baruch himself (cf. v. 59 with xxxii. 12)
and the fact that this relationship is not actually stated in so many words, as
it would have been by a later writer, is strong proof of the reliability and good
faith of the author. Moreover the sentiments expressed in the message are
very different from those of the previous section, and quite in keeping with
those utterances of the prophet which are generally accepted ; Jeremiah never
concealed the fact that the Babylonian supremacy was limited in time, and that
when the period of punishment was over Israel would be restored.

59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah
the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedek-
iah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign.
Now Seraiah was ^ chief chamberlain. 60 And Jeremiah wrote

^ Or, quarterviaster

59. Cf. xxxii. 12 and see above.

cJiief chamberlain. Mg. quartermaster. The latter rendering is
probably to be preferred. Seraiah was evidently in charge of the

1 For a description of the appearance of Babylon at the present day see Miss G.
Lowthian Bell, Amurath to Amurath, pp. 167 ff.

376 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [li. 60-64

in ^a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even
all these words that are written concerning Babylon. 61 And
Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, ^then
see that thou read all these words, 62 and say, O Lord, thou
hast spoken concerning this place, to cut it oflF, that none shall
dwell therein, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate
for ever. 63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of
reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it
into the midst of Euphrates : 64 and thou shalt say, Thus shall
Babylon sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I
will bring ^upon her: and they shall be weary.

Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. '

^ Or, one book ^ Or, and shalt see, and read... then shalt thou say dtc.

^ Or, upon her. And they shall be weary : thus far &c.

arrangements for quartering the king at the various halting-places^ LXX.
reads rulei' of the presents, that is to say the official in charge of the
tribute or of the gifts prepared by Zedekiah to mollify his offended
suzerain. The AV. somewhat quaintly renders a quiet prince (of Vulg.
princeps prophetiae).

62. This V. interrupts the connexion between vv. 61 and 63 and
should be omitted. It seems to depend on ]. 3, 26.

64. Cf. Rev. xviii. 21 6 'Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the
great city, be cast down, and shall be found no more at all'

they shall be weary. These words — in Heb. one word only — are to be
separated from those which go before, as is done by the rendering of
mg. ; they come originally from -u. 58 and have been placed here by
error. It is generally held that the concluding phrase Thus far &c.
once stood after -y. 58 and when it was transferred to this place the last
word of the v. (in Heb.) was either by accident or design transferred
with it.

Thus far... Jeremiah. These words were inserted before Hi. which
is an appendix mainly borrowed from parts of 2 K. xxiv. and xxv. (see
below).

Chapter LH.

The Fall of Jerusalem.

This ch. with the exception of vv. 28 — 30 is taken almost word for word
from 2 K. xxiv. 18 — xxv. 21, 27 — 30. The present narrative also bears close
resemblances to ch. xxxix., and indeed vv. 4 — 11, 13 — 16 are identical with

1 The Heb. (Hn-Up""!^) lit. m.e&ns prince or ruler of the resting-place. Enc. Bib.
4373 compares several Palmyrene inscriptions set up by the senate and people 'in
honour of the leader of the caravan' (XrinE^D 21).

Lii. 1-6] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 377

vr>. 1 f, 4 — 10 of that ch. No account, however, is given here of Nebiichadrezzai-'s
command that the prophet was to be preserved (xxxix. 11—14), but on the
other hand details concerning the temple vessels, not given in xxxix., are now
related {vv. 17 — 23). There is some reason for supposing that in the cases
where the text of this ch. differs fi-om that in 2 K. the latter is less well pre-
served. Lxx. omits vv. 2f., 15, 22—30. The object of the ch. was perhaps to
shew that Jeremiah's prophecies against Jerusalem were fulfilled, and it is
interesting to notice that a similar historical appendix is placed at the end of
the first Isaiah, though the reasons for this addition were not the same (Is.
xxxvL — xxxix. = 2 K. xviii. 17 — xx. 19)^.

LII, 1 ^ Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began
to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his
mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord,
according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 3 For through the
anger of the Lord did it come to pass in Jerusalem and Judah,
until he had cast them out from his presence: and Zedekiah
rebelled against the king of Babylon. 4 And it came to pass in
the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day
of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he
and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it;
and they built forts against it round about. 5 So the city was
besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 6 In the

^ See 2 Kings xxiv. 18, &q.

LII. 1. Zedekiah was one and twenty years old. According to 1 Ch.
iii. 15 Zedekiah was older than Shallum (i.e. Jehoahaz), and since the
latter was twenty-three on ascending the throne (2 K. xxiii. 31) Zedekiah
must have been well over thirty by this time.

Hamutal. The mother of Jehoahaz (2 K. xxiii.), to whom Zedekiah
was therefore full brother; the mother of Jehoiakim was called Zebidah
(2 K. xxiii. 36).

Libnak. The scene of the destruction of Sennacherib's army (2 K.
xix. 8 and 35).

4. the tenth month. 'The numbering of the months was a late
usage introduced with the Babylonian calendar, in which the beginning
of the year was reckoned from the spring season. Hence the investment
of the city commenced inthemonth of January, 588 (or 587).' Dr Skinner
on 2 K. XXV. 1. Cf. Zech. viii. 19.

6. In the fourth month. The numeral is missing from the text of
2 K. XXV. 3.

1 The natural and earlier idea that the compiler of Kings made use of these chh.
of Is. in collecting materials for his history is no longer held by scholars ; see Driver,
L0r.8pp. 226ff.

378 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [lii. 6-15

fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was
sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the
land. 7 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of
war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of
the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden ;
(now the Chaldeans were against the city round about:) and
they went by the way of the Arabah. 8 But the army of the
Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the
plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.
9 Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of
Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he ^gave judge-
ment upon him. 10 And the king of Babylon slew the sons of
Zedekiah before his eyes : he slew also all the princes of Judah
in Riblah. 11 And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the
king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon,
and put him in prison till the day of his death.

12 Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month,
which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadrezzar, king of
Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, which
stood before the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem: 13 and he
burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house ; and all the
houses of Jerusalem, even ^ every great house, burned he with
fire. 14 And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the
captain of the guard, brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round
about. 15 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried

^ Heb, spake judgements with him. ^ Or, every great mail's house

7 ff'. See on xxxix. 4 ff.

10. he slew also... in Riblah. Missing from 2 K. xxv. 7.

11. and put... death. Missing from 2 K. xxv. 7.

12. tenth. In 2 K. xxv. 8 the seventh day is mentioned. Jewish
tradition says that Nebuzaradan entered the temple on the seventh,
profaned it on the ninth, when it was set on fire, and that it burned till
the tenth.

nineteenth. Cf. v. 29 eighteenth; the chronology of this period is
very confused and different traditions seem to exist; in v. 28 the date
of the first fall of Jerusalem is given as the seventh year of the reign of
Nebuchadrezzar whilst in 2 K. xxi v. 1 2 it is the eighth. It seems probable
that one tradition reckons from 604 the first complete year of Nebu-
chadrezzar, the other from 605 the year when he came to the throne.

15. Missing from lxx.

Lii. 15-3.] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 379

away captive of the poorest sort of the people, and the residue
of the people that were left in the city, and those that fell away,
that fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the ^multi-
tude. 16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the
poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen. 17 And
the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and the
bases and the brasen sea that were in the house of the Lord, did
the Chaldeans break in pieces, and carried all the brass of them
to Babylon. 18 The pots also, and the shovels, and the snuffers,
and the basons, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass
wherewith they ministered, took they away. 19 And the cups,
and the firepans, and the basons, and the pots, and the candle-
sticks, and the spoons, and the bowls ; that which was of gold,
in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver, the captain of the
guard took aAvay. 20 The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve
brasen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had
made for the house of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels
was without weight. 21 And as for the pillars, the height of the
one pillar was eighteen cubits ; and a line of twelve cubits did
compass it ; and the thickness thereof was four fingers : it was
hollow. 22 And a chapiter of brass was upon it ; and the height
of the one chapiter was five cubits, with network and pome-

1 Or, artificers

of the poorest sort of the people &c. These words should be omitted
as inconsistent with the next v., they are not found in 2 K. xxv. 11.

17. The larger vessels were too bulky to be carried away as they
were and so had to be broken up.

the pillars... bases... brasen sea. See on xxvii. 19.

18. The pots. . .shovels. Mentioned in Ex. xxvii. 3 ; 1 K. vii. 45.
snuffers. Cf. Ex. xxv. 38; Num. iv. 9.

basons. For tossing the blood of the victims against the side of the
altar.

19. the candlesticks. Better lampstands. These stood before the
oracle (1 K. vii. 49).

20. one sea . . . twelve brasen bulls. The sea may have represented the
'water above the firmament' from which the rain came; and the ttvelve
bulls were perhaps the signs of the zodiac. The making of the bulls
was a technical breach of the second commandment.

21—23. See 1 K. vii. 15—18.

21. cubits. A cubit was about a foot and a half in length.

22. a chapiter. This is a capital, the head of a column or pillar.

380 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [lii. 2.-25

granates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and the
second pillar also had like unto these, and pomegranates. 23 And
there were ninety and six pomegranates ^on the sides; all the
pomegranates were an hundred upon the network round about.
24 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest,
and Zephaniah •the second priest, and the three keepers of the
^door: 25 and out of the city he took an ^officer that was set
over the men of war ; and seven men of them that saw the king's
face, which were found in the city ; and the scribe of the captain
of the host, who mustered the people of the land ; and threescore
men of the people of the land, that were found in the midst of

1 Or, oji the otitside Heb. towards the four winds.
^ Heb. threshold. '■^ Or, eunuch

unto these. The word for 'network' has evidently fallen out. The
opposite omission, strangely enough, has been made in 2 K. xxv. 17 and
and pomegranates omitted.

pomegranates. The shrub was common in Palestine and suggested
the ornamentation for the embroidery of the robe of the ephod\ The
pomegranate appears very frequently in Assyrian and Egyptian sculpture
(see Dr McNeile's notes on Ex. xxv. 31 fF., xxviii. 33).

23. on the sides. The Heb. is towards the four winds or windwards as
Driver renders it. No certain meaning can be given to the words which
have been interpreted in various ways (a) visible outwards, that is the
ninety-six could be seen in contradistinction to the four hidden between
the pillar and the wall (Rashi) ; (/>) hanging loosely, that is four of the
pomegranates were fixed and the others hung down from them.

24 — 27. These m. contain a list of officials and others who were
taken to Nebuchadrezzar at Riblah and there put to death by his orders.
These men may have been selected for punishment because they had
been more directly concerned with the rebellion than their fellows, or
they may have been selected more or less at random according to the
summary methods of justice employed by oriental monarchs.

24. Seraiah. The name is a common one and possibly there is
some confusion between the various people who bore it. This chief
priest was according to 1 Ch. vi. 4 ff. a descendant of Aaron through
Eleazar and the father of .Jehozadak (cf Hag. i. 1); according to one
account he was the father of Ezra also (Ezra vii. 1).

Zephaniah. See on xxi. 1.

keepers of the door (better as mg. threshold). See on xxxv. 4.

25. seven... that saw the king's face. In 2 K. xxv. 19 the number
given is Jive. These men were apparently in the king's confidence and
had much to do with shaping his policy; cf Est. i. 14; Matt, xviii. 10.

^ Flinders Petrie {HDB. i. 158, 269) suggests that the bell and pomegranate
ornament on this robe was an adaptation of 'the old Egyptian lotus and bud border.'

Lii. .5-31] THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH 381

the city. 26 And Nebuzaradaii the captain of the guard took
them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 27 And
the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah
in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out
of his land. 28 This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried
away captive : in the seventh year three thousand Jews and three
and twenty: 29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he
carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred and thirty
two persons : 30 in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchad-
rezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away
captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all
the persons were four thousand and six hundred.

31 ^And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of

1 See 2 Kings xxv. 27—30.

28 — 30. These vv. are missing from lxx. ; they do not occur in
2 K. but instead there is a very brief account, based on Jer. xxxix. 11 —
xliii. 7, of the governorship of Gedaliah (vv. 22 — 26).

28. seventh year. If the text stands this refers to the first capture
of Jerusalem when according to 2 K. xxiv. 14 more than ten thousand
were deported. The simplest solution is to read 'seventeenth' and to
take the figure as being the number of those who were carried away at
the beginning of the operations of the second siege, the captives from
the towns outside Jerusalem.

30. three and twentieth year. No other early account of this de-
portation has been preserved though there is no reason for doubting the
substantial accuracy of the statement. The deportation may have been
in connexion with the disorders in Palestine organised by Ishmael and as
a punishment for the murder of the Babylonian governor. Josephus
records {Ant. x. ix. 7) that Nebuchadrezzar in the twenty-third year
of his reign deported Jews from Egypt.

31 — 34. The parallel narrative with 2 K. is now resumed and these
vv. with a few small differences are the same as the last vv. of that book
(xxv. 27 — 30). The reasons for the action of Evil-merodach are obscure^
but none the less would excite hopes in the people of the captivity.
Herodotus records (iii. 129 — 132) that Darius gave the privilege of
sitting at the king's table to a Greek physician named Democedes as a
reward for his having restored to him the use of his foot which had been
injured whilst hunting.

31. the seven and thirtieth year. That is 560 B.C. and the second
year of Evil-merodach, who succeeded Nebuchadrezzar in 561.

1 According to St Jerome, Conim. on Is. xiv. 19, Evil-merodach met Jehoiachin
in prison where he himself was confined owing to his having offended Nebuchad-

382 THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH [lil ,.-3,

the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month,
m the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evil-merodach
king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head
ot Jehoiachm king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison;
32 and he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the
throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon. 33 And he
changed his prison garments, and did eat bread before him con-
tmually all the days of his life. 34 And for his allowance, there
was a contnmal allowance given him of the king of Babylon,
every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of
his life. "^

tweiZth^ *'^'''^''*^ ^'''^- ^^- ^ ^- ^^- ^^ ^^'"^ '^y' ^^^^^ «^^^

cutSTr'''''r.l^^- ^^^f "^«^^^^^-). The reign of this king was
to Epln/f \l^ttle more than two years by assassination ; according

tL^rnTr r^^ ^^Tu^^^ ^'' P^^Pl^ ^y ^'^ debauchery and ex-
travagance (see Canon Johns, Anct Bab. p. 129)

wnnU'- ^tt'^^^- The court of a great monarch like the king of Babylon
would include amongst its members a number of conquered sovereLns
whose presence there, whilst it added to the glory of the conqueror also

ToZf:tTi:'''T- 7''''^ '^' --r^^-^^^^ed mi^ht have beL dTsposed
to make to recover their former powers. Such incidents as the friendship
which developed between Evil-merodach and Jehoiachin were probab ?
not uncommon Cyrus formed a similar bond with his captive Croesus^

did not wifll. f?^ '^ ^f '^'''*^'- '^?" s^iccessors of Evil-merodach
did not withdraw the privileges granted to Jehoiachin.

INDEX

Abarim 169

Abiathar xxviii, 107

Achbor 202 f .

Adam, Reliqious Teachers of Greece Iv,

Ixxii, 11, 73, 110, 183, 221
Aeschylus quoted or referred to 79, 179,

326, 362, 365
Ahab, son of Koliah 218 f .
Ahikam 203

Alexander the Great 262, 353, 374
Alexandria 316
all flesh 195
almond tree 7
Amasis xc, 308, 315
ambassadors 348
Amen 104
Amenophis IV 371
Ammon34, 297, 343 ff.
Amon of No 327

Amos, influence on Jeremiah Ixx
'Anath 3

Anathoth xxviii, 3, 48, 108, 246
antimony 47

anthropomorphisms xlvi, 5 f., 161
Apis 323
Apries 278
Aquinas, St Thomas, quoted 38, 133,

299 f .
Arabah 289

Arabia, 193, 352; meaning of in O.T. 29
Aramaic words etc. 28, 98, 125, 129,

131, 134, 209
Ararat 368

Aristotle quoted 64, 374
ark Ixv, 33 ff.

arm, figurative use of 205, 338
Armenia 368

Arnold, Matthew, quoted 207
Arnon 337
Arcer 337
Arpad 350

Artemis, worship of 72
Arthur, king of Britain 227
Ashdod 193
Asherim xx, 138 f.
Ashkelon 330
Ashkenaz 368
Ashtoroth 72
ass, burial of 169; highly esteemed by

Arabs 50; wild 24
assembly 88

Asshurbanipal 16, 79, 353

Assuan papyri, see Elephantine papyri

Assyrian battle axe 327 ; cavalry 46 ;

language 51
Astarte = Ashtoroth 72 f.
Atbash 194

Athanasius, St, quoted Ixviii, 80, 107
Athens, the plague at 134
Augustine, St, quoted or referred to Ixii,

239, 357
Azazel 47
Azekah 259

Baal xlix ff., 24, 37, 239, 251

Baalis 297 ff.

Babylon, date of prophecy concerning
354 f.; as God's instrument 189, 355 ;
pride 361 ; treatment of captives 222 ;
final overthrow 191, 373 ff.; exiles to
pray for 216 ; under the figure of a
battle axe 367, a mountain 368, a
golden cup 365, a hammer 360

Bacon quoted xli

bakers' street 281

baldness 135

balm 86, 322, 365

Barbarossa, Frederick 227

Baruch Ixxivf., 247, 269 ff., 305, 316

bases 209, 379

Bashan 359

basilisks 84

basons 379

battle axe, Assyrian use of 327; Babylon
as 367

Bedouin 29, 266, 352

Beit Nettif 295

Bel 356

Bell, Miss G. L., quoted 140, 227, 375

Ben-hadad 351

Benjamin, gate of 279, 282

Benjamin of Tudela quoted 374

Beth-anath 3

Beth-anoth 3

Beth-diblathaim 337

Beth-el 335

Beth-gamul 338

Beth-haccherem 56

Bethlehem 234

Beth-meon 338

Beth-shemesh 79, 308

Bevan, Ed^yn. quoted 215, 374 f_

384

INDEX

birds, Jeremiah's interest in 11 f. ; obey

instincts 81 f.
blue 98

book of the law discovered xx
Bosheth 37
bosom 248
bottle 117

bowels as seat of emotions 43
bowls 265

Bozrah in Moab 338 ; in Edom 347
Branch, the 172 f.
brasier 274
brickwork 307
bride, Israel as a 14
Browning quoted or referred to 7, 146
buckler 321
bulls, brasen 379
Bunyan, John, quoted Ixxi
burden 144, 180 f.
burial, importance of 169
burning as punishment 219
Buz 193

Cadmus, legend of 238

Caedmon quoted 50

cage 54

cakes, sacrificial 72

caldron 7 ff.

calendar, the Hebrew 136, 271, 377

calf 235, 261 f.

calves of the stall 326

Cambyses 168, 308

Canaan 263

Canaanites xlix, 268

candlesticks 379

cane, sweet 62

cankerworm 366

Canterbury Tales, the, referred to 61

Caphtor 329

captivity, turn 217

caravanserai 88

Carchemish, battle of, its importance

188, 268 ; its site 320
Carmel 17, 46, 325, 359
cedars, figurative use 165
cedars of Lebanon 165 f.
centralisation of worship xxi
ceremonial and the moral law xvii, Ivi f .
Chaldean army 266
chamberlain, chief 375
chambers of the Temple 264
chaos 45
chapiters 379
Chemosh 34, 334
Chemosh-melech 34
chief officer 154
Chimham 301
Chinese, the 262, 267
Chronological table xc
Chronology, Hebrew Ixxxix

Chrysostom, St, referred to 81

Church, Dean, quoted liv

Chuzistan 353

circumcision, origin of 94 ; of the heart

39
cisterns 20, 58
clay, potter's 147
Cleopatra's needle 309
clouds, figurative use 42
Coleridge, S. T., quoted xli
collection of the prophetic writings

Ixxii if.
Commandments, the Ten 60, 67 f., 243 f.,

248
Coniah, see Jehoiachin
consolation, the cup of 135
contract, deeds of 247
corpses, ill-treatment of 79, 153
correction 26

counting, Hebrew method of 261
covenant, meaning of 243 f. ; methods

of entering into 261 f.
Covenant, the New liff., 238—244
crane 82
Creighton, Bishop, quoted or referred to

lix, Ixxxv, 156, 324
crocodile 122

Cromwell, fate of body of 168
cubit 379

cunning women 92
cup, Babylon as a golden 365
cup of wine of God's fury 191 ff.
curses 130

curtains (tent hangings) 44
Cush 120
Cushi 272

Cyprian, St, quoted 178
Cyrus 189, 216, 355, 382

Damascus 350

Dan, the town 43

Dan, the tribe 84

dancing, religious 230 f.

Dante, quoted or referred to Ixii, Ixv, 49,

67, 68, 82, 126, 172, 194; Jeremiah

likened to xliii
daughters as inheritors of property 36
David 173, 226; House of 162; Throne

of 164 f.
days come 173
death = pestilence 127
Dedan 193, 346
defiled 17
Delaiah 274
Democedes 381

Demosthenes, his difficulty in speaking 5
Deuteronomy and Jeremiah Ixxxvi
Deuteronomy, date of Ixxxvi, 76, 200
diamond 138
Dibon (Dibdn) 336

INDEX

385

Diogenes 48

divorce 28 f.

dogs 127

door, keeper of 265, 380

double sample 137, 143

dove 339

dragon 370

dreams 177, 179

drink-offerings, see libations

dromedary 24

dross 64

drought 121 ff.

drunkenness, effects of 174 f .

dungeon 279, 284

Eal62

eagles, see vultures

ears, tingling of 152

earthquakes 45

eat, figurative use 131

Ebed-melech 282 f., 291

Eckhardt quoted 88

Edom 345 ff.

Edward VI of England xxii

Eglath-shelishiyah 341

Egypt, Jewish settlements in 315 f. ; mer-
cenary troops of 315, 326; as a serpent
326 f.

Ekron 193

Elam 193, 353

Elasah 215

elders 151, 200

Elealeh 340

Elephantine, Jewish settlement at 315 f.

Elephantine papyri 247, 315 f.

Elijah 208, 268

Eliphaz 346

Elisha 268, 296

el- Jib 210, 300

Elnathan 202, 274

encompass 236 f.

enfranchisement of slaves 259 ff.

Ephraim, Mt. 43

Esau = Edom 346

eschatology Ixiff., 224

Ethiopia, see Gush

eunuch 282, 291

Euphrates 114 ff.

Euripides quoted 158

Eusebius quoted Ixvi, 268

Evil-merodach 381 f.

exile, effect of on Hebrew religion 143,
223

exiles, condition of 222 f. ; to pray for
Babylon 216

Exodus, the 13, 173

Ezekiel and Jeremiah xli, Ixxxiv f.

Fallow ground, simile of 38 f.
false prophets 174 ff., 182 ff., 197

B.

falsehood 89

families 9

famine, see drought

fan 42, 128

fasts 270 f .

father, husband called 30

fatness 54

fig trees 52, 83

figs, baskets of 185 ff.

fire, the word of Jehovah likened to 51,

157, 180
firstborn 232
firstfruits 15

fishing, illustration from 137
flesh 113, 195
fold 172
folly 219

foreign language, dread of 52
forest, figurative use of 163
foundation sacrifices 37
fountain 20
Francis of Assisi, St, quoted or referred

to xxix, xxxvi, 191, 272
Frank mountain 56
frankincense 62
fray = frighten 79

fruit trees in ancient warfare 57 f. , 296
funeral customs 259
furnace, the iron 103
future, the, see eschatology

Gadfly 325

gall 84, 92

Gareb 241

gates = cities 122

gates of Babylon 373 ; of the city 144, 151,

241 ; of the land 128 ; of the temple

154
Gaza 328 ff.

Gedaliah, son of Ahikam xxvii, 291, 294 ff.
Gedaliah, son of Pashhur 281
Gehenna, see Hinnom
Gemariah, son of Hilkiah 215
Gemariah, son of Shaphan 271
Geruth (Gidroth) 301
Gibbon referred to xiv, Ixx, 50
Gibeon 210, 300
Gilead 86, 165, 359
girdle, the buried 114 ff.
Glover, T. E., quoted 11
Goah 241
Gomorrah 349
Gower, John, quoted 301
grapes, sour 238
green tree 23
Gregory VII 335
Gregory of Tours quoted xlix
Gregory the Great 139
guilty, meaning of 15
Gudea of Sirgurla, inscription of 166

25

386

INDEX

Guzzeh 330

Habitation 172, 349

Hamath 350

Hammelech 275

hammer, God's word likened to 180;

Babylon likened to 360
Hammurabi, Code of liv, 28, 219, 261
Hamutal (Hamital) 377
Hanamel 246
Hanan 265
Hananel 241

Hananiah, son of Azzur 182, 210 ff.
handle the law 17
Hannibal 246
harlot, Judah as 23, 31
Harsith 151
harvest 85, 369
Hazor 351 f.
heap 228 f.
heath, see juniper
heaven, signs of 96
heavenly bodies, worship of 79 f., 153
heavens as witness 10, 19
heifer 325

heights, bare 36, 112
Heliopohs 308
Heraolitus quoted 53, 146
Harmon 148 f .
Heshbon 333, 344
Hezekiah xvii, 47, 201, 286
high hiU 22

Hilkiah, father of Jeremiah xxviii, 2
Hilkiah the priest xx
hind, care of its young 122
Hinnom 24, 78, 151
hirelings 167
hissing 149, 348
Hittites 18
holiness in OT. 15
Holon 337
Homer referred to 49, 50, 54, 64, 127,

179, 183, 191
honey, flowing with milk and 103
hope of Israel, a title of Jehovah xlvi,

123
Hophra xc, 277, 314 f.
horn as emblem 338
Horonaim 333
horse, figurative use 81
Hosea, influence on Jeremiah Ixix, 29, 94
host of heaven, see heavenly bodies
hosts, God of 51
Huldah XX, 203
human sacrifice 37
husband, used of Jehovah 14, 239
Hyrcanus, John 348

Idolatry 95 ff.
incense 9, 62

137

Inge, Dean, quoted or referred to xlvi,
xlvii

inheritance, laws of 36

ink 273

intercession of Saints in Jewish litera-
ture 129 f.

interest, see usury

intoxication, see drunkenness

intreat the favour of 201 i

iron 131

Isaiah, comparison with Jeremiah xxxiv

Ishmael 295 ff.

Ishtar, see Ashtoroth

isles 18

Jackals 91

Jacob, house of 16

Jabzah 337

Jazer 340

Jehoahaz xxiii, 166 f.

Jehoiachin xxv, 170 ff., 211, 382

Jehoiada 220

Jeboiakim xxiii ; character of xxix, 167 ;
burning of the roll 274; fate of his
body 168, 275

Jehovah 3

Jehucal = Jucal 277

Jehudi 272 ff.

Jerablus 320

Jerahmeel 274

Jeremiah, appearance, no record of xxix;
call of xxviii, xxxviii, 1 ; character of
xxix, XXXV, xxxvi ff. ; children, interest
in xlii, 59; consulted by Zedekiah
159 f., 276 f. ; failure of xxxiii ff. ; field
at Anathoth, buys Ixv, 244 ff . ; im-
portance of xiii, 155 ; inward conflicts
xl, 156 ff., 212; love for his country
XXXV, xl ff. ; marriage forbidden 133 f. ;
meaning of the name 2 ; nations, as
prophet to Ixvi f., 1, 4, 130, 188; past
valued by xxxvi, Ixix, 61 ; potter's
house, visit to 146 ff.; preservation of
hfeby Ahikam, 202 f.; by Ebed-Melech
282 f .; seized as a deserter xxxiii, 278 f.;
sufferings of xxxf., 130, 142; temple,
attacks worship of xxxi, 64 ff., 196 ff.;
times of xvii ff. ; traditions concerning
xxxiii, Ixxxvi f . ; vengeance, desires
131, 150; writes to exiles xxxii, 214 ff.

Jeremiah, the teaching of, conception
of God xliv ff., 177 f., 318 f.; New
Covenant li ff., 242 ff.; the nations
147, 318 ff.; sources of Ixviiiff.; in-
fluence of xxxvi, Ixxxiii ; methods of
Ixx ff., 205; on sacrifice 73 ff.

Jeremiah, the book of, contents Ixxvff.;
composition of Ixxii ff., 268 ff. ; style
of Ixxviii ff., 242; preservation of xiii,
Ixxiii

INDEX

387

Jeremiah, the Epistle of 215

Jerusalem, as mountain in the field 139 ;
as rock of the field 148 ; as throne of
God 33, 125 f. ; topography of 241

Jewish nation, survival of 46, 240

Jezaniah 302 f.

Job and Jeremiah Ixxxvi

Johanan 296 f.

John, king of England xxvi

Jonadab 263 ff.

Jonah 197, 319

Jonathan, son of Kareah 295

Jordan, the pride of 111, 349

Josiah xviii; character of xxii, 168; re-
formation under xix ff. ; death of xxiii

Jowett, Benjamin, quoted or referred to
Hi, Ixii, 6

Jucal, see Jehucal

Judah, religious condition of xlix ff. ;
social condition of Iviii ff. ; restoration
promised 240

Judas Maccabaeus Ixxxvii

Julian of Norwich, the Lady, quoted
xlviii, Ixxii

juniper 140, 333

justice, importance of Iviii, Ixi, 162, 164

Kadytis 328

Karnak 327

Keats quoted 141

Keble quoted xiv, xxxix, 317

Kedar 18, 351 ff.

keeper of the door 265

Kenites 263

Kerioth 338

khan, see caravanserai

Kimchi quoted or referred to 2, 7, 157,

333, 343
Kinah, see Qinah

King, Ed., Bishop of Lincoln, quoted 144
Kinglake quoted 91, 166, 295
kinsman's right of redemption 246
Kir-heres 339
Kiriathaim 332
Kirjath-jearim 202
Kition 18
Kittim 18

Kolaiah, play on the word 219
Kcran quoted or referred to Ixxiii, 28 f.,

45
Kubbet Rdhel 234
kureyat 332
Kusr el Besheir 338

Labour, forced 167

Lachish 259

lamb, gentle 107

Lamentations, Jeremiah as author of

xxxix
Larnaka 18

latter rain 29

Lebanon 148 f., 165

Leb-kamai 364

lees of wine 335

Leontopolis, temple at 316

leopard 49

Levites 70, 256

libations 73

Libnah 377

lift up the head 382

Lightfoot, J., referred to 3

Lightfoot, J. B. 7

lions, figurative use of 21, 112, 194,

363
living waters 20
lodging place, see caravanserai
loins, girding up 9 f.
lovers = false gods 228 ; = allied nations

47, 228
Lowell quoted Ix, Ixviii f.
Lowth quoted 64
Ludim 322
Luhith 333
Luther, at Eome 48 ; quoted or referred

to xxi, Ixvi
Luxor 327

luxury, growth of xxiii f. , lix
lye 23

Maacathite, the 295
Maaseiah, son of Shallum 265
Macaulay quoted or referred to xli, 43,

79, 183
Madmen 333
madness 221

magic and rehgion Ivi, 105
Magor-missabib, see terror on every side
Mahdi, the 184, 227
Malcam 343
Manasseh xviii, 27, 127
Marduk 356
marshal 368
Martel, Charles 360
Maurice, F. D., quoted 54, 69
Medes 193, 365
Megiddo xxiii
Memphis 21, 323
Mephaath 337
Merathaim 359
mercenaries, Egyptian 315, 326; Jews

as 315
Merodach, see Marduk
Merodach Baladan 47
Mesha 332 ff.
Messiah, the 343
Messianic hopes 33
metals, process of refining 64
metre, Jeremiah's use of Ixxxii
Micah, his influence on Jeremiah Ixix,

94; J. likened to Ixi, 200 f.

388

INDEX

Micaiah, see Micah

Micaiah, son of Gemariah 271 f.

Michaelangelo referred to 90

Migdol 309

mighty = enduring 52

Milcom 34

milk, see honey

millstones 190

Milton quoted Ixxiv, 62, 72, 172, 255,

334, 340
mingled people 192 f., 324, 362
Minni 368

miracles as test of truth 183
Misgab 332
Mizpah 294 ff.
Moab 331 ff.
Moabite stone 205, 336
Molech worship 251
monotheism xlv, 205
Moore, Aubrey, quoted or referred to xlv,

Ivii, 6
morning, the time for business 162
Moses 5, 126, 169
mountain as God's dwelling 22; Babylon

likened to 368
mounts of besiegers 57, 249
mourning customs 92, 134 f., 299
Muhammed quoted or referred to 45, 135,

139, 179, 183, 350

Nabataeans 266, 346, 348

Ndblns 298

Nabonidus 4, 371

Nabopolassar 239

Nahr 'Amnion 345

name, change of, on accession 166 f.

national gods 19

nations, order of list of 187 f. ; future of

Ixvi ff .
natural laws unknown to Hebrews 11
nature, Jeremiah's conception of 10 ff.,

53
Nebo 332, 356
Nebuchadrezzar as servant of Jehovah

189
Nebuzaradan 288, 293
Neby Savnvil 294
Necho II xxiii, 320
Negeb 119
Nehelamite 220
Nehushta xxv, 118 f.
Nephilim 52
Nergal 4

Nergal-sharezer 288
Netophathite, the 295
New Testament references to Jeremiah

Ixxxvii ff.
Newman, J. H., quoted xxxix, xlv, li
Nile 22
Nimrim 341

nomadic life 263, 266
noon 128
Noph 21
North, the 8 f.

Obelisks 308 f.

old paths 61

Old Testament, value of xiii f.

olive, symbol of the nation 106

Omar Khayyam quoted or referred to 146

Omri, importance of the reign of xiv

Ophir, see Uphaz

ornaments, love of 27, 46

Osiris 323

ostriches 363

Palaces 57

Palestine, climate of 275

palm tree 97

Parah 115 f.

partridge 141

Pascal quoted Ixxiii

Pashhur, son of Immer 154

Pashhur, son of Malchijah 160

past, lessons of 61

Pater, Walter, quoted 264

Pathros 309

Paul, St, and Jeremiah Ixxxviii, 39, 94,

147
pavilion 307 f.
peace, meaning in Heb. 90
peaceably 90
peels 56

Peile, J. H. F., quoted Ivi
Pekod 360
pen 138
penknife 274
Ferath 115
Petra 348
Pharaoh 320
Phihstines 192, 328 ff.
physicians, Jewish opinion of 86
Pilgrim Fathers 87
pillars XX, 208, 379
pit, see cistern
place — sanctuary 68
Plato quoted or referred to xxx, Iv, Ivii,

Ixii, Ixxii, Ixxx, 28, 183, 184, 221
play upon words 7, 31, 56, 152, 261, 324,

333
plead 18

pomegranates 380
potter's vessel 151 ; wheels 147
Prayer, Book of Common, quoted or

referred to Ixxxix, 42, 54, 102, 139
Prayer Book, Jewish, quoted or referred

to 98, 236, 255
prepare = sanctify 57, 368
prey, life for a 162, 318
pride of Jordan, see Jordan

INDEX

389

priests opposed to prophets 55, 221
prophetic oflSce, scope of xxx f., 1 f., 211
prophets, false, see false prophets
prosperity of the wicked 108 f.
Psalms and Jeremiah Ixxxvi, 140
Psammetichus I 193
Psammetichus II xxvi
Ptolemy I (Soter) 329
Ptolemy II (Philadelphus) 344
Punt 322
purple 98
Put 322

Qasr Bint el Yehudi 306
Qinah measure Ixxxii, 77
quartermaster, see chamberlain, chief
queen mother 118 f., 215
queen of heaven 71 ff., 309 ff.

Eabbah 344

Eab-mag 288 f.

Kab-saris 288 f.

Eachel 234 f . ; site of tomb of 234

rain 53 f., 126; see also latter rain

Eamah 234, 293

Eamses II 202

Eamses III 329

Eashi quoted or referred to 31, 339,
380

Eauschenbusch, W. , quoted xvii, 221

Eechabites, the 263 £f.

Eed Sea 349

redeemer, the 361

redemption of property 246

reeds 369

refining, see smelting

reformation, Josiah's xix ff.

reins, seat of affections 108

remnant, meaning of 108 ; doctrine of
Ixiv

repentance, used of God 148

Eiblah 289

righteousness, the Lord our Ixv f., 173

rising up early 189

ritual in worship, necessity of Ivi, Ixxxv

rock as symbol of firmness 49

rod as symbol of power 336

roofs of houses, chambers on 167 ; wor-
ship on 153

Eossetti, Christina, quoted 171

Euskin quoted or referred to Ixxviii, 11,
45, 290

Sabbath 143

sackcloth, meaning of 41

Samaria 299

Samosata 320

Samuel 126

sanctuaries, local xxi, 23, 26

sanctuary, law of single xxi

Sarsechim 288

Savonarola 156

scribes 83

Scythians xix, xxx, 9, 39, 51 f.

sea, molten 208 f., 379

sea = river 370

sea, sorrow on the 351

Seebohm, Frederic, quoted xv

Seilun, see Shiloh

Sela 348

Seleucus Nicator 374

Sennacherib 63, 259, 286

Septuagint of Jeremiah, peculiarities in
Ixxvii ff.

Seraiah, son of Neraiah 375 f.

Seraiah, the chief priest 380

serpent, figurative use of 326

seventy years of captivity 217

shackles 221

Shaddai 148

Shakespeare quoted 24, 54, 86, 324,
326

Shallum, see Jehoahaz

Shaphan 271

Sheba 62

Shechem 298 f.

shekel 246 f.

Shelemiah 272

Shemaiah the Nehelamite 220 ff.

Shephelah, the 145

shepherds = rulers 18, 171 f. ; = prophets
142

Sheshach 194, 371

shields 321

Shihor 22

Shiloh 68 ff., 197, 299

shoot, see Branch

shout 194 f., 340

shovels 379

Sibmah 340

Sibyl, legend of the 276

Sibylline Oracles quoted 9, 156

Sidney, Sir Philip, quoted Ixxxii, 301

sight, deprivation of, as punishment 290

signet 170

Siloam, pool of 289

Sin 4

Sinai 22

Sinai, the covenant at 243

sins of fathers visited on children liv f .,
11, 238

Sirion 148 f.

sirocco 41

Slaughter, valley of 152

slaves, different classes 20; enfranchise-
ment of 259 ff .

smelting, illustration from 90

smiths 185, 263

snuffers 379

soap 23

390

INDEX

social problems xvii, Ix

Socrates referred to 49, 179, 182, 199,

232
Sodom 349
Solomon 19
Solon referred to ?8
Sophocles quoted or referred to 169
sorek 23

sorrow on the sea 351
South, the, see Negeb
Spenser quoted or referred to Ixxxi, 88,

169
spoons 379

staff as symbol of power 336
stand before 268, 296
standards as guide posts in war 40,

355
star worship, see heavenly bodies
Stephen, St 74, 198
stocks 154
stork 82

stranger, the 67, 164
strangers = foreign gods 25, 32
stubbornness 33
stumbling 62

Sumerian farming laws 167
sun worship xxi, 79
Suso, Jeremiah likened to xliii
swallow 82
swift 82

Swinburne quoted 7
sword, joined with famine and pestilence

251 ; of the Lord 192, 331 ; the edge of

161
Syene 309
symbols, Jeremiah's use of Ixxi, 15

Table of the heart 138

Tabor, Mount 325

tabrets 230

Tahpanhes 21, 306

Tammuz 175

tank, see cistern

Tarshish 97

Taylor, Jeremy, quoted 62

Tekoa 56

tel 228

tell = count 255

Tell el-Hesij 229, 259

Tell Defenneh, see Tahpanhes

Tema 193

Teman 346

Temple as God's throne 125 ; furniture

of 208 f . ; vessels 207 ff. ; topography

of 197
temples of head shaved 95, 353
tents 44, 101

terror on every side 63, 155
Thebes 327
Thompson, Francis, quoted 128

threshing 369

throne, Jerusalem as 33 ; Temple as 125

Thucydides quoted 134

Tiglath-Pileser III 350, 369

timbrel, see tabrets

tongues, speaking with 180

Topheth 78

torah 17

trees, sacred 23, 138 f.

trumpet 40

tumult 106

turn captivity 217

turtle (dove) 82

Tyre 330

Uncircumcised ears 59

uncircumcision 94

Underbill, Evelyn, referred to xliii, Ixxi,

Ixxviii, Ixxxiii
Uphaz 97
Uriah 202
usury 130
Utnapishtim 162
utterly destroy 360
Uz 192

Vain (vanity) 16, 137

Valley of Hinnom, see Hinnom

Venus, see queen of heaven

vermilion 167

vessel, pleasant 195

vessel, symbol of broken 151

vine as symbol of Israel Ixi, 23

vineyards 231

vintage songs Ivi

Virgil referred to 62, 99, 255

virgin, the people as a Ixi

visit 246

vultures 42, 341, 350

Wady er-Rabdbi 78

Wady Fdra 116

Wady Nimiere 341

walls of Babylon 373

war a religious act 57, 165

Watts Dunton quoted Ixxxii

waymarks 236

Ways, the Two, figure of 161

wells 58

Westcott, B. F., quoted xvi, liii, 77, 148

whirlwind, chariots likened to 42

wicked, prosperity of 108 ff .

wife, nation as erring 13, 27

wild ass, see ass

wilderness, meaning of term 14 f., 27,

175 ; wind from 41, 120 ; as refuge

87 f.
William the Conqueror Iviii
wine 233

INDEX

391

winter house 273

wolf 49, 362

wormwood 92

wrath of God, meaning of slviii :

191 f.
write = register 171
written in the earth 141

Xerxes 374

Yahweh 3

yoke, symbol of 205 ff.

Zechariah 172

Zedekiah, character of xxv, 211 ; journey
to Babylon xxvi, 375 f. ; consults Jere-
miah 159 f., 276 f. ; loses his sight xxvi,
290

Zedekiah, son of Maaseiah 219

Zephaniah, son of Maaseiah 160, 220

Zidon 330

Zimri 193

Zion 227, 231; see also Jerusalem and
Temple

Zoar 333

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